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A  BRIEP 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTOEY 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


THE  ISLAND  OF  NEW-YORK. 


BY 

THE  REV.  J.  R.  BAYLEY, 

SECRETARY   TO   THE   ARCHBISHOP   OF   NEW-YORK. 


NEW-YORK: 

EDWARD  DUN^IGA^NT  &  BROTHER, 

151  FULTOjS"  STREET. 

MDCOCLin. 


33 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

JAMES  B.  KIRKER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for 

the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


PREFACE. 


The  materials  for  the  following  brief  sketch 
liave  been  gathered  from  Mr,  Campbell's  in- 
teresting *^  History  of  the  Life  and  Times  of 
Archbishop  Carroll,"  O'Callaghan's  History  of 
the  New  Netherlands,  Bishop  Connolly's  Jour- 
nal, the  columns  of  the  Truth  Teller  and  Free- 
man's Journal,  some  historical  notes  amongst 
the  manuscripts  of  the  late  Bishop  Brute, 
and  communications  from  Mr.  J.  G.  Shea  and 
others,  who  have  made  researches  in  this  field 
of  history.  Though  believed  to  be  accurate 
as  far  as  it  goes,  it  does  not  pretend  to  be  a 
full  and  complete  history  of  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  Catholicity  on  the  island,  but  rather 
an  attempt  to  call  attention  to  the  subject. 
Many  are  still  living  who  could  furnish  from 
their  own  knowledge  interesting  details  in 


4  PREFACE. 

regard  to  events  which  have  occurred  since 
New-York  was  made  an  Episcopal  See ;  and 
others  have  in  their  possession  letters  and 
documents  which  would  throw  much  light 
upon  the  subject;  and  it  is  hoped  that  they 
may  be  induced  by  the  present  publication 
to  furnish  the  Editor  with  such  information 
as  they  are  possessed  of.  The  latter  portion 
of  the  present  sketch  will  at  first  sight  appear 
meagre,  and  unsatisfactory;  but  it  has  been 
thought  best  at  present  merely  to  state  the 
more  important  events  simply  as  they  occur- 
red. Full  and  accurate  records  have  been 
kept,  and  from  them,  and  other  abundant 
sources,  the  future  historian  of  Catholicity  in 
the  State  of  New- York,  will  be  able  to  give  a 
more  satisfactory  account  of  an  administra- 
tion which  has  been  so  beneficial  to  our  holy 
religion,  not  only  here,  but  throughout  the 
United  States. 


C  0  N  TENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

French  Missionaries  at  New- York — Jogues — Bressani — Catiio- 
lic  Settlers  under  the  Dutch — The  English  Rule — A  Catholic 
Proprietor  —  Governor  Dongan  — Liberty  and  Toleration — 
Fall  of  James  II. — Penal  Laws— Negro  Plot — End  of  British 
Rule 


CHAPTER  11. 

The  Revolution — Hostility  of  the  new  Government — Proscrip- 
tive  Acts — A  Bishopric  erected  in  the  United  States — Father 
Farmer  founds  the  first  Church  in  the  City  of  New- York — 
Early  Pastors  of  St.  Peter's— Their  Difficulties— St.  Patrick's 
begun — Riot  on  Christmas  Eve '16 


CHAPTER  III. 

tSee  of  New- York  erected — The  first  Bishop — Dr.  Concanen — 
His  Death  at  Naples — St.  Patrick's  built — The  Jesuits  in 
New- York — The  Confessional  and  its  Rights — Important 
Decision — Dr.  Connolly,  the  second  Bishop — His  Diary — His 
Clergy — Establishments  erected  during  his  Administration — 
His  Death 53 


CONTENTS. 


CUiiPTER  IV. 


Vacancy  of  See — Appoinlineul  oi  Bishop  DuBois — State  of  his? 
Diocese — Trusteeism — College  at  Nyack— 'At  Lafargeville — 
New  Churches — Cemetery — German  Mission  and  its  Found- 
er— Eminent  Clergymen — Catholic  Papers — Libels  on  Ca- 
tholics— Maria  Monk — Appointment  of  a  Coadjutor— The 
Bishop  resigns  the  Administration  to  him TP' 


CHAPTER  V. 

Administration  of  Bishop  Hughes — St.  John's  College  organ- 
ized— Conventof  the  Sacred  Heart — New  Churches— Church 
for  tlie  French — Fathers  of  Mercy — German  Mission  of  the 
Redemptorists  — The  School  Question — Diocesan  Synod — 
Church  Debts,  and  attempts  to  relieve  them 105. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Bishop  M'Closkey  appointed  Coadjutor — Native  Excitement — 
Sisters  of  Mercy — Their  House  of  Protection — Sisters  of 
Charity — The  Diocese  divided — New- York  an  Archiepisco- 
pal  See  —  New  Churches — College  of  St.  Francis  Xavier— 
Present  state  of  Catholicity  in  the  City 111> 


APPENDIX. 

A  List  of  Priests  who  have  died  in  the  Diocese  of  New- York. — 
A  List  of  Priests  ordained  in  the  Diocese  of  New- York. — A 
Table  of  the  Number  of  Priests  in  the  Diocese  at  various 
Times. — Proceedings  in  the  Convention  of  1776,  as  to  Catho- 
lics.— Catholicity  in  New- York  in  1822. — Clergymen  officiat- 
ing in  the  Diocese  of  New- York. — Catholicity  in  New-York 
in  1S54. — Acts  relating  to  Catholics  and  Catholic  Institutions 
in  the  Colony  and  State  of  New-York 133. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

French  Missionaries  at  New- York — Jogues  —  Bressani  —  Catholic 
Settlers  under  the  Dutfch— The  English  Rule— A  Catholic  Pro- 
prietor—  Governor  Dongan  —  Liberty  and  Toleration  —  Fall  of 
James  II. —  Penal  Laws  —  Negro  Plot  —  End  of  British  Rule. 

Almost  at  the  same  time  that  the  Island  of 
Manhattan  was  discovered  and  settled  by  Eu- 
ropeans, the  Jesuits  commenced  their  labors 
amongst  the  Indians  of  Canada  ;"^  from  whence 
they  extended  them  to  the  tribes  inhabiting 
the  present  State  of  jSTew-York.      The   first 

*  In  the  earlj  colony  at  Port  Royal — now  Annapolis-^ 
Nova  Scotia,  there  was  a  priest,  Messire  Josue  Fl^che,  who 
has  left  in  Lescarbot  a  portion  of  his  baptismal  register  con- 
taining the  names  of  21  Indians  baptized  in  1608.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Father  Biart  and  other  Jesuits,  who  were  sub- 
sequently in  Maine.  In  Canada,  the  first  regular  mission- 
aries were  the  Recollects,  whom  M.  De  Champlain  caused 
to  visit  the  colony  in  1614.  In  1625,  three  Jesnit  priests 
came  to  Quebec. — Charlevoix,  i.  237-247.  Hudson  discov- 
ered New- York  in  1609.  A  fort  was  erected  on  Manhattan 
Island  in  1615. 


6         HISTOEY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

missionary  who  entered  within  the  borders  of 
the  State,  and  the  first  priest  who  came  to  the 
Island  of  Manhattan,  was  Father  Isaac  Jogues, 
a  distinguished  missionary  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  of  whose  labors,  sufferings,  and  death 
a  most  interesting  account  is  given  in  the 
Jesuit  Eelation  of  1642-43,  and  in  the  pages 
of  Charlevoix.^ 

Eeturning,  in  1642,  from  Quebec  to  the 
place  of  his  missionary  labor,  accompanied  by 
a  party  of  Hurons,  he  was  surprised  by  the 
Iroquois, f  and  taken  captive.  He  willingly 
resigned  himself  to  this  misfortune,  in  order 
that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  to  convey 
the  tidings  of  salvation  to  these  poor  savages. 
In  common  with  his  fellow-prisoners,  he  was 
treated  with  the  greatest  cruelty.  After  hav- 
ing beaten  him  with  clubs  and  stones,  they 
pulled  out  all  his  finger  nails,  and  gnawed  the 
index  finger  of  both  his  hands.     The  captives 

•5^-  Eelation  for  1642-43,  p.  243  ;  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  343. 

]  This  was  the  common  designation  given  by  the  French 
to  the  Five  Nations,  though  sometimes  applied  to  the  Mo- 
hawks alone.  This  tribe  was  generally  called  Agiiiers  by 
the  French,  Maquaas  by  the  Dutch,  and  Mohawks  by  the 
English. 


ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  NEW-YORK.  7 

arrived  at  the  villages  of  the  Iroquois  after 
a  round-about  march  of  five  weeks,  during 
which  they  suffered  dreadfully  from  fatigue, 
being  obliged  to  walk  from  morning  until 
evening,  and  carry  the  baggage  of  their  perse- 
cutors. Here  they  underwent  fresh  tortures. 
Father  Jogues  had  the  thumb  of  his  right 
hand  cut  off  by  an  Algonquin  woman  —  a 
Christian — at  the  command  of  her  Iroquois 
master;  three  of  the  Huron  chiefs  were  burnt 
at  the  stake  ;  and  Eene  Goupil,  a  lay  brother, 
who  accompanied  Father  Jogues,  was  killed 
by  the  blow  of  a  hatchet. 

After  some  time,  Father  Jogues  was  per- 
mitted to  move  about  at  his  will,  and  he  took 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  instruct  such 
Indians  as  he  found  disposed,  in  the  mysteries 
of  the  Christian  faith,  and  in  baptizing  chil- 
dren who  were  dying."^  He  afterwards  made 
his  escape  by  the  assistance  of  Arendt  Van 
Curler,f  who  had  previously  made  several  at- 

*  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  364;  O'Callaghan,  vol.  i.,  p.  334. 

f  It  was  on  account  of  the  impression  Van  Curler's  char- 
acter and  conduct  made  upon  the  Indians,  that  they  were 
accustomed  to  address  all  succeeding  governors  of  New- 
York  by   the  title  of  "Corlear."     Chailevoix  and  Colden 


8         HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

tempts  in  his  favor — a  man  of  mnch  import- 
ance amongst  the  Dutch,  and  the  commander 
of  Fort  Orange  (Albany).  The  Mohawks  were 
very  much  incensed  at  his  escape;  but  the 
Dutch  protected  him  even  at  the  risk  of  war, 
and  finally  paid  the  Indians  one  hundred 
pieces  of  gold  for  his  ransom."^  The  minister  at 
Fort  Orange,  John  Megapolensis,  took  a  great 
interest  in  him.  ^' A  volley  was  fired  at  his 
departure,  and,  as  they  sailed  down  the  Hud- 
son, they  wished  to  call  an  island  by  his  name, 
with  the  nautical  ceremony  of  firing  a  cannon 
and  breaking  a  bottle  of  wine."f  He  reached 
New  Amsterdam  in  safety,  and  was  kindly 
received  by  Governor  Kieft  and  the  inhabit- 
ants. Governor  Kieft  gave  him  a  suit  of 
clothes,  and  lodged  him  in  the  fort ;  so  that  it 
may  be  said,  that  the  first  priest  who  came  to 
what   is   now  New- York,  was  received  and 


give  a  different  origin  to  the  title,  but  this  seems  to  be  the 
true  one.  See  an  interesting  account  of  this  brave  and  ex- 
cellent man  in  O'Callaghan's  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  323,  note. 

*  The  Father  remitted  from  France  the  one  hundred  pieces 
of  gold  which  had  been  paid  for  his  ransom.  Creuxiiis,  as 
quoted  by  Campbell. 

f  O'Calhighan,  vol.  i.,  p.  ooi. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  9 

treated  with  distinction.^  The  people  gener- 
ally showed  him  great  kindness.  He  was  pro- 
vided with  passage  in  a  ship,  which  sailed 
shortly  afterwards.  The  vessel  was  driven 
upon  the  coast  of  England  by  a  violent  storm, 
and  plundered  by  robbers,  who  stripped  Fa- 
ther Jogues  and  his  companions  of  their 
wearing  apparel,  and  left  them  to  pursue 
their  journey  as  they  could.  By  the  as- 
sistance of  the  captain  of  a  French  vessel,  he 
was  carried  to  France,  and  landed  on  the 
coast  of  Brittany.  He  was  received  with  the 
greatest  honor,  as  a  Confessor  for  the  Faith, 

*  The  "Relation"  for  1642-43,  p.  243,  contains  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  captivity  of  Father  Jogues.  In  his  captivity 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  Father  Lalemant,  dated  from  '*Rens- 
selaerwick,  August  30th,  1643."  He  found  a  Portuguese 
woman  and  a  young  Irishman  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan, 
whose  confession  he  heard.  Father  Jogues'  "  Description  of 
the  N^ew  Netherlands  "  was  presented  to  the  Regents  of  the 
University  of  j^ew-York,  by  the  Rev.  Father  Martin,  Supe- 
rior of  the  Jesuits  in  Canada,  and  a  translation  of  it  was 
published  by  O'Callaghan,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  Docu- 
mentary History,  p.  20. 

The  N'ew-York  Historical  Society  intend  publishing  an 
English  version,  by  J.  Gr.  Shea,  Esq.,  of  Father  Jogues'  Jour- 
nal, in  the  next  volume  of  their  Collections.  The  original 
Latin  may  be  found  in  Tanner,  and  a  French  version  in 
Martin's  Edition  of  Father  Bressani's  work,  hereafter  men- 
tioned. 

1* 


10      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

by  the  members  of  bis  own  society,  and  all 
classes  of  people  ;  was  presented  at  court, 
and  bad,  on  account  of  bis  mutilated  bands,  a 
particular  dispensation  to  celebrate  mass  sent 
to  bim  by  tbe  Pope  (Innocent  X.),  w^bo  re- 
marked, tbat  it  would  not  be  just  to  refuse  to 
a  martyr  of  Jesus  Cbrist  tbe  privilege  of  drink- 
ing tbe  blood  of  Jesus  Cbrist.  ^'Indignum 
esset  Cbristi  martj^rem,  Cbristi  non  bibere 
sanguinem."*^ 

*  In  1644,  Father  Bressani,  another  Jesuit  missionary, 
had  been  taken  by  the  Indians,  and  rescued  from  them  by  the 
Dutch,  who  dressed  his  wounds  and  nursed  him  until  he 
had  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  cruel  treatment  he  had 
received;  and  then,  having  provided  him  with  proper  cloth- 
ing, sent  him  to  Manhattan.  Governor  Kieft  treated  him 
with  great  kindness,  and  on  hii  departure  furnished  him 
with  the  following  letter  of  safe  conduct : 

"  "We,  William  Kieft,  Director-general,  and  the  Council  of 
the  Xew  Netherlands,  to  all  those  who  shall  see  these 
presents,  greeting :  Francis  Joseph  Bressani,  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  for  some  time  a  prisoner  among  tlie  Iroquois 
savages,  commonly  called  Maquaas,  and  daily  persecuted 
by  these,  was,  when  about  to  be  burnt,  snatched  out  of 
their  hands,  and  ransomed  by  us  for  a  large  sum,  after  con- 
ftiderable  difficulty.  As  he  now  proceeds  with  our  permis- 
sion to  Holland,  thence  to  return  to  France,  Christian  charity 
requires  that  he  be  humanely  treated  by  those  into  whose 
hands  he  may  happen  to  fall :  Wherefore,  we  request  all 
governors,  viceroys,  or  their  lieutenants  and  captains,  that 
they  would  afford  him  their  favor  in  going  and  returning, 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEAV-YORK.  li 

Father  Jogues  returned  to  Canada  in  1646, 
and  resumed  his  labors  for  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians,  amongst  the  very  people  from 
whom  he  had  received  such  cruel  treatment. 

promising  to  do  the  same  on  like  occasion.  Dated  at  Fort 
Amsterdam,  in  New  Netherlands,  this  xxth  September,  Anno 
Salutis,  1G44,  Stylo  novo." 

O'Callaghan  justly  remarks,  that  "these  and  similar  acts  of 
kindness  secured  ever  afterwards,  for  both  the  inhabitants 
of  Rensselaerwick,  as  of  the  New  Netherlands  generally,  the 
warm  attachment  and  regard  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries, 
who,  it  may  be  added,  allowed  no  occasion,  to  pass  without 
giving  expression  to  their  gratitude  and  respect." — O'Calla- 
ghan's  Hist., vol.  i.,  p.  SSY :  see  Rev.  Father  Pierron's  Letter  to 
Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  from  **Tiniontogen,"  6th  Nov.,  1667; 
Father  de  Lamberville's  Letter  to  Jeremias  Van  Rensselaer, 
from  Onondaga,  in  1685;  and  Viceroy  Tracy's  Letter  to 
Governor  NicoU,  in  1667,  quoted  by  O'Callaghan. 

The  Relation  of  1643-44  contains  a  full  account  of  Father 
Bressani's  sufferings  and  deliverance.  He  afterwards  wrote 
an  account  of  the  missions  in  Canada,  which  was  published 
at  Macerata,  in  Italy  (his  native  place),  in  1653,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  celebrated  Cardinal  de  Lugo.  A  French  transla- 
tion of  this  work  of  Father  Bressani's,  by  the  Rev.  Father 
Martin,  S.  J.,  was  published  at  Montreal  in  1852. 

Father  Joseph  Poncet  (1653),  who  had  been  taken  by  the 
Mohawks,  and  doomed  to  torture,  but  whose  life  was  saved 
by  his  being  adopted  by  an  old  matron  of  the  tribe,  was 
afterwards  sent  to  Fort  Orange  (Albany),  where  he  was 
treated  with  great  kindness,  and  his  wounds  healed  by  some 
of  the  persons  residing  there.  He  administered  the  rites  of 
religion  to  two  Roman  Catholics  residing  there,  and  returned 
to  Canada. — Relation,  1652-53,  quoted  by  Brodhead,  Hist, 
p.  564;  O'Callaghan,  vol.  ii.,  p.  300-2;  U.  States  Catholic 
Magazine,  VI,  p.  306. 


12      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Having  taken  part  in  the  negotiation  of  a 
treaty  of  peace  between  the  Iroquois  and  the 
Hurons,  he  formed  strong  hopes  of  christian- 
izing the  Five  Nations.  He  was  sent  at  his 
own  request — being  acquainted  with  the  Mo- 
hawk dialect — to  found  the  new  mission ;  but 
his  farewell  words,  ''Ibo,  sed  non  redibo,"  were 
prophetic.  On  liis  approach  to  the  Mohawk 
castles,  he  was  seized  and  led  in  as  a  prisoner, 
together  with  a  young  Frenchman  who  accom- 
panied him.  On  the  following  day  they  were 
both  put  to  death.  Father  Jogues'  head  was 
fastened  to  one  of  the  palisades,  and  his  body 
was  thrown  into  the  Mohawk  Eiver.^  Thus 
perished  the  first  missionary  that  ever  visited 
our  island.  His  memory  was  long  cherished 
even  among  the  Iroquois,  who  could  not  but 
admire  his  virtues ;  and,  though  he  has  never 
been  formally  canonized,  yet  those  who  are 
laboring  in  the  same  field  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances,  may  justly  invoke  his  in- 
tercession while  they  endeavor  to  imitate  his 
zeal  and  devotion. 

Whilst  the  wild  inhabitants  of  the  interior 
*  Charlevoix,  Hist,  de  la  Nov.  France,  vol.  i.,  p.  480. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.  13 

of  the  present  State  of  New- York  afforded 
opportunity  to  the  persevering  zeal  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  and  flourishing  missions 
were  established  amongst  the  Mohawks,  the^ 
Onondagas,  the  Oneidas,  the  Cayugas,  and  the 
Senecas,^  we  find  no  record  of  the  existence 
of  any  considerable  number  of  Catholics,  or 
the  residence  of  any  Catholic  priest  on  the 
Island  of  New- York,  until  the  time  of  Gover- 
nor Dongan,  in  1683.f 

The  Dutch,  though  it  must  be  mentioned  to 
their  honor  that  they  were  ever  ready  to  suc- 
cor the  missionaries  when  in  danger,  were 
zealous  Calvinists.  In  the  first  charter  of 
Freedoms  and  Exemptions,  it  was  implied, 
and  in  the  amended  charter  of  1640,  expressly 

^  A  chapel  was  built  at  Onondaga,  another  on  the  Cayu- 
ga Lake,  <fcc. ;  "and  there  in  the  heart  of  New-York  the 
solemn  service  of  the  Roman  Church  was  chanted  as  se- 
curely as  in  any  part  of  Christendom." — Bancroft,  vol.  iii., 
p.  143.  A  list  of  the  priests  on  these  Indian  missions,  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Shea,  may  be  found  in  K  Y.  Doc.  Hist.,  vol.  iv., 
p.  291. 

f  Governor  Andros,  in  his  answer  to  inquiries  about 
New-York  in  1678,  under  the  head  of  rehgion,  makes  no 
mention  of  Catholics. — Lond.  Doc.  No.  III. ;  Doc.  Hist.  vol. 
L,  p.  88.  Governor  Dongan,  in  his  report  to  the  Committee 
of  Trade  in  the  Province  of  New-York,  says,  **Few  Roman 
Catholics." — Doc.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  186. 


14      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

provided,  that  the  Protestant  religion,  as  ex- 
pounded by  the  Synod  of  Dort,  was  to  be 
maintained  by  the  company  and  its  governors; 
and  in  the  latter  document  it  was  declared, 
that  no  other  religion  was  to  be  tolerated.* 
There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  this  prin- 
ciple was  very  strictly  enforced  in  regard  to 
other  Protestants — many  of  whom,  driven  out 
of  New  England,  were  permitted  to  settle 
quietly  in  the  New  Netherlands ;  and  the  con- 
duct of  Governor  Kieft  and  the  inhabitants 
of  New  (York)  Amsterdam,  towards  Fathers 
Jogues  and  Bressani,  show  that  they  were  dis- 
posed to  be  kind  and  tolerant  even  towards 
such  Catholics  as  chance  or  necessity  might 
compel  to  come  among  them.f  With  the  ex- 
ception of  some  cases  of  severity  exercised  by 

*  The  Hon.  B.  F.  Butler's  Discourse  before  the  jSTew-York 
Hist.  Soc,  p.  23. 

f  That  Catholics  did  not,  however,  rank  very  high  in  the 
opinion  of  some  of  the  colonists,  is  evident  from  the  pream- 
ble of  the  act  of  association  of  a  number  of  the  Sect  of  the 
Mennonists,  who  emigrated  about  1662,  and  settled  on  the 
Delaware,  in  which  it  is  declared,  that,  though  the  society 
was  to  be  composed  of  persons  of  different  creeds,  yet  "all 
intractable  pei*8ons,  such  as  those  in  communion  with  the 
Roman  See,  usurious  Jews,  English  stiff-necked  Quakers,** 
Ac^  were  to  be  excluded. — O'Callaglian,  vol.  ii.,  p.  467. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  1-5 

Governor-  Stuyvesant  against  the  Lutherans 
and  Quakers,  the  only  instance  I  find  recorded 
of  any  thing  approaching  persecution  is  in 
1658,  when  a  Frenchman  was  brought  up  by 
the  Sheriff  of  Breukelen  on  a  charge  of  refus- 
ing to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  minis- 
ter, the  Eev.  Mr.  Polhemus.  On  his  ^'inso- 
lently pleading  the  frivolous  excuse  "  that  he 
was  a  Catholic,  he  was  fined  twelve  guilders. 
It  should  be  mentioned,  however,  that  an 
Englishman,  who  was  brought  up  at  the  same 
time,  and  who,  with  the  same  *4nsolence," 
pleaded  that  he  did  not  understand  Dutch, 
was  fined  a  like  sum. 

The  Catholics,  it  is  true,  were  probably  very 
few  in  number,  though  that  there  were  some 
residing  in  the  colony,  not  only  appears  from 
the  above  circumstance,  but  is  also  mentioned 
by  the  minister,  Domine  Megapolensis,  in  a 
letter  written  at  this  time  to  the  Classis  at 
Amsterdam,  in  which  he  mentions  that  Father 
Le  Moyne,*  a  celebrated  Jesuit   missionary, 


*  Father  Le  Moyne  first  discovered  the  rich  and  exhaust- 
less  Salt  Springs  of  Onondaga  County  (August  16,  1654).' — 
Relation,  1653-54.     He  gav«  an  account  of  them  to  Domini* 


16      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

had  been  on  a  visit  to  the  Manhattans,  "  on 
account  of  the  Papists  residing  here,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  accommodation  of  the  French 
sailors,  who  are  Papists,  and  who  have  arrived 
here  with  a  good  prize." 

The  number  of  Catholics  on  the  Island  of 
Manhattan  probably  increased  considerably 
during  the  administration  of  Grovernor  Don- 
gan,  who  succeeded  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  in 
1683.  Smith,  who  was  not  likely  to  be  pre- 
judiced in  his  favor,  says  of  him,*  that  ^4ie 
was  a  man  of  integrity,  moderation,  and  gen- 
tle manners,  and  though  a  professed  Papist, 
may  be  ranked  among  the  best  of  our  gover- 
nors." He  adds,  ^^that  he  surpassed  all  his 
predecessors  in  a  due  attention  to  our  affairs 
with  the  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  highly 
esteemed." 

The  court  of  France  had  made  a  representa- 

Megapolensis,  at  New  Amsterdam :  "  but  whether  this  in- 
formation be  true,  or  whether  it  be  a  Jesuit  lie,  I  do  not 
determine."  writes  the  Dominie  in  a  letter  to  the  Classis  at 
Amsterdam. — O'Callaghan's  Hist,  of  the  N.  K,  Yol.  ii.,  p.  308, 
note. 

*  Smith's  History  of  New- York,  vol.  i.,  p.  66.  Golden 
calls  him  an  "  honest  gentleman,"  and  "  an  active  and  pru- 
dent governor." — Hist,  of  the  Five  Nations,  p.  85. 


ON   THE   ISLAKD   OF   NEW- YORK.  17 

tion  to  James  II.  of  the  impropriety  of  oppos- 
ing the  Jesuits  in  their  labors  to  bring  the 
Indians  to  the  light  of  faith ;  and,  in  conse- 
quence, Governor  Dongan  was  instructed  to 
afford  them  every  encouragement.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  entertained  different  views 
upon  the  subject  from  his  sovereign — proba- 
bly on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  French 
Jesuits,  while  they  spread  the  Gospel  amongst 
the  Indians,  necessarily  bound  them  more 
closely  to  the  interest  of  France.*^  With  the 
view,  no  doubt,  of  reconciling  what  he  be- 

*  In  pursuance  of  his  plan  for  resisting  the  encroachment 
of  the  French,  he  seems  to  have  entertained  the  idea  of 
bringing  colonists  from  Ireland.  In  his  letter  to  the  Lord 
President  (Lond.  Doc.  Hist,  vol.  i.,  p.  256),  he  says:  "It 
will  be  very  necessary  to  send  over  men  to  build  those 

forts My  Lord,  there  are  people  enough  in  Ireland 

who  had  pretences  to  estates  there,  and  are  of  no  advantage 
to  the  country,  and  may  live  here  very  happy.  I  do  not 
doubt,  if  his  majesty  think  fit  to  employ  my  nephew,  he 
will  bring  over  as  many  as  the  King  will  find  convenient 
to  send,  who  will  be  no  charge  to  his  majesty  after  they  arc 
landed." 

I  may  mention,  as  somewhat  in  contrast  with  these  views 
of  Governor  Dongan,  that  the  old  laws  of  Maryland  (Act 
1717,  ch.  X.)  imposed  a  duty  of  twenty  shillings  on  every 
Irish  servant  imported,  being  Papists,  with  the  avowed  in- 
tention of  preventing  the  growth  of  Popery,  the  amount  to 
go  to  the  support  of  common  schools. 


18      HISTORY    OF  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

lieved  to  be  his  duty  to  the  country  he  repre- 
sented, with  his  duty  to  religion,  he  seems  to 
have  formed  a  plan  for  sending  English  Jesu- 
its amongst  the  Indians."^  In  his  speech  to 
the  Five  Nations  at  Albany,  in  1685,+  he  de- 
sires them  to  receive  no  French  priests  for 
the  future,  and  informs  them  that  he  had  sent 
for  English  priests,  ''  with  whom  they  should 
be  supplied  to  their  content."  It  was  no  doubt 
in  pursuance  of  this  object  that  he  sent  to 
England  for  certain  Jesuits,  who,  not  being 
fitted  by  their  knowledge  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guages to  enter  immediately  on  the  mission, 
took  up  their  residences  at  New-York. 

*  In  1848,  Mr.  Robert  Greenhow  read  a  long  and  inter- 
esting essay  before  the  Kew-York  Historical  Society,  tend- 
ing to  prove  that  Fenelon,.  the  celebrated  Archbishop  of 
Cambray,  was  once  a  missionary  amongst  the  Indians  in  the 
western  part  of  our  State:  other  writers  communicated 
additional  facts,  making  out  a  very  strong  array  of  circum- 
stantial evidence  in  favor  of  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Greenhow. 
It  turned  out,  however,  that  too  much  importance  had  been 
attributed  to  the  declaration  of  the  gossiping  and  not  over 
accurate  Father  Hennepin,  and  that  the  Abbe  de  Salignac 
Fenelon,  who  was  on  the  mission  in  Canada,  and  amongst 
the  Iroquois  there,  though  of  the  same  family,  was  a  differ- 
ent person  from  the  illustrious  archbishop,  and  never  entered 
New-York. 

f  Golden,  Hist  Five  Nations,  p.  84. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  19 

From  the  Eoman  Catalogue  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  it  appears  that  Father  Thomas  Har- 
vey, S.  J.,  was  in  New-York  from  1683  to 
1690,  and  subsequently  in  1696 — the  interval 
being  spent  in  Maryland,  where  he  died,  in 
1719,  aged  eighty-four.  Father  Henry  Harri- 
son, S.  J.,  was  in  New-York  in  1685,  returned 
to  Ireland  in  1690,  and  was  in  Maryland  in 
1697.  Father  Charles  Gage,  S.  J.,  was  also 
employed  there  in  1686-87.^  It  was  no 
doubt  under  their  supervision  that  the  school 
was  opened  to  which  Leisler  refers  in  his 
letter  to  the  governor  at  Boston  (Aug.,  1689), 
when  he  says,f  ^^I  have  formerly  urged  to  in- 
form your  Hon^  that  Coll:  Dongan,  in  his 
time,  did  erect  a  Jesuite  College  upon  cuUour 
to  learn  Latine  to  the  judges  West. — Mr. 
Graham  Judge  Palmer  and  John  Tudor 
did  contribute  their  sones  for  some  time, 
but  no  boddy  imitating  them,  the  collidge 
vanished." 

*  "In  missione  ad  Nov:  Eboracum,  sunt  duo  sacerdotes. 
Vivunt  ex  puris  eleemosynis  et  sunt  P.  Harvaeus  et  P.  H. 
Harrisonus. — Rom.  Catalog.  An.  1685,"  quoted  by  Camp- 
bell.    See  also  IST.  Y.  Doc.  Hist,  vol.  iii.,  p.  110. 

f  Doc.  Hist.»  vol.  ii.,  p.  23. 


20      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Col.  Dongan  was,  of  course,  obliged  to  re- 
sign his  office  in  leSS.*^ 

Smith,  describing  the  disposition  and  tem- 
per of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony  at  the 
time,  shows,  that  notwithstanding  the  personal 
popularity  of  the  governor,  the  increase  of 
Catholics  was  looked  upon  with  a  suspicious 
eye.f  *^  A  general  disaffection,"  he  says,  *^to 
the  government  prevailed  among  thd  people. 
Papists  began  to  settle  in  the  colony  under 
the  smiles  of  the  governor ;  the  collector  of 
the  revenues  and  several  principal  officers 
threw  off  the  mask,  and  openly  avowed  their 
attachment  to  the  doctrines  of  Eome.  A  Latin 
school  was  set  up,  and  the  teacher  strongly 
suspected  for  a  Jesuit :  in  a  word,  the  whole 
body  of  the  people  trembled  for  the  Protestant 
cause."     The  news  of  the  revolution  in  Eng- 

*  Col.  Dongan  had  in  fact  been  superseded  in  his  office 
Bome  time  previous  to  this  (April,  1688  :  Chalmers'  Annals), 
and  was  residing  on  Staten  Island,  where  some  of  his  de- 
scendants remained  down  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 
After  the  usurpation  of  Leisler,  he  returned  to  Ireland,  and 
was  created  Earl  of  Limerick  by  James  II.  He  had  previ- 
ously been  in  the  service  of  France  (Letter  to  M.  Denon- 
ville,  Doc.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  210),  and  I  believe  that  ho 
returned  to  it  nflcr  the  fall  of  tTames. 

I  Smith's  HIbI.  of  New-York,  vol.  i.,  p.  90. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  21 

land,  and  the  subsequent  proceedings  under 
Leisler,  probably  caused  such  Catholics  as 
were  in  a  situation  to  get  away,  to  withdraw 
at  the  same  time  with  the  governor.  The 
documents  connected  with  Leisler's  usurpation 
of  authority,  as  published  by  O^Callaghan  in 
his  Documentary  History  of  New- York,  show 
how  studiously  he  appealed  to  the  religious 
prejudices  of  the  people,  in  order  to  excite 
odium  against  the  friends  of  the  late  governor, 
and  establish  his  own  claims.*  The  ^^  security 
of  the  Protestant  religion,"  and  the  "  diabolical 
designs  of  the  wicked  and  cruel  Papists,"  are 
made  to  ring  their  changes  through  his  vari- 
ous proclamations  and  letters.  Depositions 
and  affidavits  were  published,  in  which  it  was 
sworn  that  Lieutenant-governor  Nicholson  has 
been  several  times  seen  assisting  at  mass ;  that 
the  Papists  on  Staten  Island  ^'did  threaten  to 
cut  the  inhabitants^  throats,"  and  to  come  and 
burn  the  city;  ^Hhat  M.  De  La  Prearie  had 
arms  in  his  house  for  fifty  men ;  that  eighty 
or  a  hundred  men  were  coming  from  Boston 
and  other  places,  that  were  hunted  away  (no 

*  Doc»  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1,  et  seq. 


22      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

doubt  not  for  their  goodness),  and  that  there 
were  several  of  them  Irish  and  Papists ;  that 
a  good  part  of  the  soldiers  that  were  in  the 
fort  already  were  Papists,"  Ac."^  Among  other 
depositions,  is  one  of  Andries  and  Jan  Meyer, 
in  which  they  declare  that,  **  being  delivered 
from  a  Papist  governor,  Thomas  Dongan, 
they  thought  that  the  Deputy  Governor  in 
the  Fort  would  defend  and  establish  the  true 
religion  ;  but  we  found  to  the  contrary. 
There  was  a  cry  that  all  the  images  erected 
by  Col.  Thomas  Dongan  in  the  Fort  would 
be  broken  down  and  taken  away ;  but,  when 
we  were  working  in  the  Fort  with  others,  it 
was  commanded,  after  the  departure  of  Sir 
Edmond  Andros,  by  said  Nicholson,  to  help 
the  Priest,  John  Smith,f  to  remove,  for 
which  we  were  very  glad ;  but  it  was  soon 
done,  because  said  removal  was  not  far 
off,  but  in  a  better  room  in  the  Fort,  and 
ordered  to  make  all  things  for  said  Priest, 
according  to  his  will,  and  perfectly,  and  to 

*  Doc.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  28. 

f  Some  one  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  mentioned  above  had 
evidently  adopted  this,  to  them,  no  doubt  convenient,  but 
to  us  not  very  distinctive  nam& 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  23 

erect  all  things,  as  tie  ordered,  from  that 
time,"  &c. 

The  views  of  Leisler  were  probably  suffi- 
ciently supported  by  his  party  to  make  the 
colony  rather  an  uncomfortable  place  for  Ca- 
tholics ;  and  whatever  numbers  may  have 
come  into  it  under  the  protection  of  Dongan, 
we  find  that  seven  years  afterwards,  in  1696, 
there  were  only  nine  of  them  in  the  city,  if 
the  return  made  by  the  mayor  to  Governor 
Fletcher  may  be  depended  upon."^ 

It  affords  rather  a  curious  commentary 
upon  Leisler's  proclamations,  and  the  subse- 

^  Lond.  Doc,  vol.  x.,  p.  12:  13th  June,  1696.  Governor 
Fletcher  ordered  William  Merritt,  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
New- York,  to  return  in  writing  a  list  of  all  the  Roman 
Catholics  within  that  city.  In  obedience  to  his  excellency's 
command,  this  return  was  made,  and  the  following  is  the 
list  of  all  the  names  sent  in : 

Maj.  Anthony  Brockholes,         Mr.  Thomas  Howarding, 
Mr.  William  Douglass,  Mr.  John  Cavalier, 

Mr.  John  Cooly,  Mr.  John  Patte, 

Mr.  Christians  Lowrence,  Mr.  John  Fenny, 

Mr.  Philip  Cunninghanu 
Major  Brockholes  was  a  distinguished  man  in  the  province, 
and  was  one  of  the  council  in  Governor  Dongan's  time. 
The  above  note  was  furnished  to  me  by  the  kindness  of  Dr. 
O'Callaghan,  who  has  done  so  much  towards  illustrating 
the  history  of  his  adopted  State. 


24:      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHUP.CH 

quent  legislation  in  regard  to  Catholics,  to 
call  to  mind  that  the  first  legislative  assembly 
of  New- York,  was  convened  by  a  Catholic 
governor,  under  the  orders  of  a  Catholic  pro- 
prietor. The  first  act  of  the  first  assembly^ 
of  New- York  thus  convened  by  Col.  Dongan, 
was  the  ^^  Charter  of  Liberty,"  passed  October 
30th,  1683,  which,  amongst  other  things,  de- 
clares, that  ^^no  person  or  persons  which  pro- 
fess faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  shall,  at 
anj  time,  be  any  ways  molested,  punished, 
disquieted,  or  called  in  question  for  any  dif- 
ference of  opinion,  or  matter  of  religious 
concernment,  who  do  not  actually  disturbe 
the  civil  peace  of  the  Province ;  but  that  all 
and  every  such  person  or  persons  may,  from 
time  to  time,  and  at  all  times,  freely  have, 

*  Bancroft  (Hist.,yol.  ii.,  p.  414)  and  others  allude  rather 
slightingly  to  this  assembly  convened  by  Governor  Dongan, 
as  if  it  promised  much  more  than  it  ever  performed.  Yet 
the  very  fact  of  such  an  assembly  is  something.  Their 
**  Charter  of  Liberty,"  was  a  good  deal  in  advance  of  the 
"Bill  of  Rights,"  which  came  after  it.  Several  of  the  laws 
passed  had  an  important  influence  on  the  future  welfare  of 
the  colony.  The  late  Court  of  Chancery  originated  with 
this  assembly.  Nothing  but  prejudice  kept  its  acts  from 
forming  part  of  the  collected  laws  of  the  State.  See  Murray 
Hoffman's  Chancery  Practice,  vol.  i.,  p.  1. 


ON   THh]   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOKK.  25 

and  fully  enjoy,  his  or  their  judgments  or 
consciences,  in  matters  of  Religion,  through- 
out all  the  province — they  behaving  them- 
selves peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not  using 
this  liberty  to  licentiousness,  nor  to  the  civil 
injury  or  outward  disturbance  of  others."  By 
another  enactment,  all  denominations  then  in 
the  province  were  secured  in  their  liberty 
and  discipline,  and  the  like  privilege  was 
granted  to  others  who  might  come  into  it. 
Such  enactments,  however,  were  found  to  be 
rather  too  comprehensive  in  New- York,  as 
they  had  been  in  Maryland;  in  that  they 
extended  toleration  to  the  religion  of  those 
who  had  enacted  them,  and  one  of  the  first 
steps  taken  by  the  legislature,  convened  un- 
der the  new  order  of  things,  was  to  abrogate 
these  excellent  laws. 

The  Assembly  of  New- York,  in  1691,  passed 
a  resolution^  that  all  laws  passed  by  the  late 
Assembly  were  null  and  void.  Having  thus 
got  rid  in  an  illegal  manner  of  the  "  Charter 
of  Liberty,"  they  passed  a  ^' Bill  of  Rights," 
which,  though  a  copy  of  the  charter  in  many 
points,  differed  from  it  in  the  very  essential 
2 


26      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

particular,  that  Catliolics  were  expressly  excluded 
frora  'participating  in  its  p)rivileges. 

From  this  time  the  spirit  of  bitterness  to-, 
wards  the  Catholic  Church,  which,  devel- 
oped by  the  expulsion  of  James  II.,  and  the 
accession  of  William  of  Orange,  had  swelled 
up  like  a  torrent  in  England,  extended  it- 
self into  the  colonies  and  the  legislation,  and 
acts  of  the  Government  in  the  colonies  take 
their  tinge  from  English  bigotry.  Leisler 
owed  not  a  little  of  his  short-lived  success  to 
the  skilful  manner  in  which  he  took  advan- 
tage of  this  feeling ;  and  the  address  of  the 
legislature  to  Governor  Burnet,  son  of  the 
celebrated  Bishop  of  Sarum,  in  1720,  on  hts 
arrival — in  which  they  address  him  as  ^'  the 
son  of  that  worthy  prelate  so  instrumental 
under  our  glorious  monarch,  William  III.,  in 
delivering  us  from  arbitrary  powers,  and  its 
concomitants,  popery,  superstition,  and  slav- 
ery " —  shows  that  the  feeling  was  still  lively 
in  the  breasts  of  the  colonists. 

The  bill  of  1691  was  repealed  by  King 
William  in  1697,  probably  as  being  too  lib- 
eral; and,  in  1700,  an  act  was  passed  more 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  27 

Strictly  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  legis- 
lation in  the  mother  country.  The  preamble 
of  this  act  sets  forth  that,  *^  Whereas  divers 
Jesuits,  Priests,  and  Popish  missionaries  have 
of  late  come,  and  for  some  time  have  had 
their  residence  in  the  remote  parts  of  this 
Province,  and  others  of  his  majesty^s  adjacent 
colonies,  who,  by  their  wicked  and  subtle 
insinuations,  industriously  labored  to  debauch, 
seduce,  and  withdraw  the  Indians  from  their 
due  obedience  to  his  most  sacred  majesty,  and 
to  excite  and  stir  them  up  to  sedition,  rebel- 
lion, and  open  hostility  against  his  majesty's 
government."  It  is  then  enacted  that  every 
priest,  &c.,  remaining  in,  or  coming  into  the 
province  after  November  1st,  1700,  should  be 
^*  deemed  and  accounted  an  incendiary,  and 
disturber  of  the  public  peace  and  safety,  and 
an  enemy  to  the  true  Christian  religion,  and 
shall  be  adjudged  to  sn&ev ^^erjoeiual  imprison- 
menty  In  case  of  escape  and  capture,  to 
suffer  death.  By  the  same  enactment,  har- 
borers  of  priests,  were  to  pay  a  fine  of  two 
hundred  pounds,  and  to  stand  three  days  in 
the   pillory.      Smith  speaks    of  this  law  as 


2S      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

"one  for  hanging  any  Popish  Priest  who 
should  come  voluntarily  into  the  Province," 
and  adds,  that  "it  continues  in  full  force  to 
this  day,  as  it  for  ever  ought.""^ 

In  1701,  a  law  was  passed,  by  which  "  Pa- 
pists and  Popish  recusants  are  prohibited  from 
voting  for  members  of  assembly,  or  any  oflSice 
whatever,  from  thenceforth  and  for  ever." 

In  the  commission  issued  by  Queen  Anne 
to  Lord  Cornbury  (1702-3),  liberty  of  con- 
science was  extended  to  all  persons  except 
Papists.  The  general  effect  of  this  intolerant 
legislation  was  to  prevent  Catholics  from  set- 
tling in  the  province ;  f  but  there  is  no  in- 

■^  It  is,  however,  just  to  the  colonists  to  say,  that  this 
law  was  suggested  and  drafted  by  the  Earl  of  Bellamont, 
who  was  so  bent  on  having  it  passed,  that,  when  his  coun- 
cil voted  against  it,  he  voted  as  a  member  of  the  council, 
and  thus  produced  a  tie,  on  which  his  casting  vote  as  presi- 
dent gave  a  majority,  and,  as  governor,  he  approved  it. 
He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  seems  to  have  been  re- 
markably fanatical.  The  act  was  so  little  regarded,  that 
a  few  years  after.  Father  Peter  Mareuil,  a  Jesuit,  was 
invited  to  Albany,  by  Schuyler,  on  the  breaking  out  of 
war. 

f  The  few  poor  Catholics  who  lived  here  must  have  suf- 
fered many  trials.  Watson,  in  his  "Notes  on  the  History 
of  ^"ew-York,"  says  that  the  cry  of  "  The  Church  in  dan- 
ger," was  often  heard  on  elections  and  other  occasions  in 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.  29 

stance  recorded  of  its  severe  penalties  having 
been  carried  into  effect,  except  in  the  case  of 
the  unfortunate  John  Ury,  who  was  hung 
in  1741,  ostensibly  on  account  of  a  pretended 
participation  in  the  notorious  Negro  Plot,  but 
in  reality  on  account  of  his  being  supposed  to 
be  a  priest.  As  the  history  of  his  trial  and 
execution  throws  much  light  upon  the  state 
of  feeling  in  the  province  in  regard  to  Catho- 
lics and  their  religion,  it  may  be  well  to  dwell 
upon  it  at  some  length."^ 

New-York.  A  man  did  not  dare  avow  himself  a  Catho- 
lic— it  wa3  odious :  a  chapel  then  would  have  been  pulled 
down.  It  used  to  be  said,  "John  Leary  goes  once  a  year 
to  Philadelphia  to  get  absolution." — Mis.  Facts  in  Appendix 
to  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  p.  60. 

*  The  account  here  given  is  taken  from  a  work  entitled 
"The  New-York  Conspiracy,  or  a  History  of  the  Negro 
Plot,"  (fee,  published  in  New-York  in  1744,  and  republished 
in  1810.  It  was  written  by  Daniel  Horsmanden,  one  of  the 
judges  who  presided  at  the  trials,  with  the  avowed  purpose 
of  putting  to  silence  certain  "wanton  and  wrong-headed 
persons  amongst  us,  who  took  the  liberty  to  arraign  the 
justice  of  the  proceedings,  and  set  up  their  private  opinions 
in  superiority  to  the  court  and  grand  jury,  and  declared 
that  there  was  no  plot  at  alir  It  is  impossible  to  read  the 
judge's  account  of  the  matter  without  coming  to  the  same 
conclusion  with  these  **  wrong-headed  persons."  Chandler, 
in  his  Criminal  Trials,  who  has  ably  abridged  Hoismanden's 
rambling   and   confused    journal   of    the   affair,   declares: 


30      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  year  1741  was  made  memorable  by  one 
of  those  popular  excitements,  which  shows 
that  whole  communities  as  well  as  individuals 
are  sometimes  liable  to  lose  their  wits.  Upon 
a  rumor  of  a  plot  made  by  the  Negroes  to 
burn  the  city  and  massacre  the  inhabitants^ 
the  whole  body  of  the  people  were  carried 
away  by  a  sudden  excitement.  The  lieuten- 
ant-governor offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred 
pounds,  and  full  pardon,  to  any  free  white 
person  who  would  make  known  the  author 
or  authors  of  certain  attempts  to  set  fire  to 
houses  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  A  serv- 
ant girl,  named  Mary  Burton,  living  with  a 
man  named  Hughson,  who  had  been  previ- 
ously condemned  for  receiving  stolen  goods, 

*'XJpon  a  review  of  the  evidence^  as  reported  by  one  who 
had  implicit  fai+h  in  the  existence  of  a  conspiracy  to  burn 
the  city  and  murder  the  inhabitants,  we  have  no  difficulty 
in  pronouncing  the  whole  thing  to  have  been  a  complete 
delusion."  Though  Horsmanden's  journal  is  calculated  to 
give  one  a  very  poor  opinion  of  either  his  natural  or  legal 
abilities,  yet  he  was  a  person  of  considerable  note  in  his 
day.  He  was  member  of  his  majesty's  council ;  recorder 
of  the  city ;  third  justice  of  the  court  of  king'^s  bench :  was 
employed  to  digest  the  laws  of  the  colony,  which,  Smith 
says,  he  neglected  to  do,  hoping  greater  gain  by  compiling 
the  history  of  the  Negro  Plot. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.  31 

came  forward  to  claim  the  reward,  declaring 
that  certain  Negroes  who  frequented  her  mas- 
ter's house  (he  kept  a  small  tavern)  had  made 
a  plot:  one  of  the  accused,  named  Cuflfee,  she 
declared,  had  said  that  ^^a  great  many  people 
had  too  much,  and  others  too  little,"  and  that 
such  an  unequal  state  of  things  should  not 
continue  long.*^  The  pretended  disclosures 
increased  the  excitement,  and  the  lawyers  of 
the  city,  to  the  number  of  seven,  with  the 
attorney-general,  were  called  together  to  take 
counsel  in  regard  to  the  matter.  They  cer- 
tainly manifested  very  little  coolness  or  judg- 
ment, and  may  be  said  to  have  led  on  the 
unfair  and  unjust  trials  which  followed.  The 
accused  had  no  counsel  allowed  them ;  the 
attorney-general  and  the  whole  bar  were  on 
the  side  of  the  prosecution ;  the  evidence  was 
loose  and  inconclusive,  and  came  without 
exception  from  the  mouths  of  interested  per- 
sons of  bad  character.  Yet,  upon  such  evi- 
dence as  this,  four  white  persons  were  hanged, 

*  The  city  of  New-York  at  this  time  contained  about 
12,000  inliabitants,  of  which  one-sixtli,  in  all  probabilitj, 
were  Negro  slavey. — Pref.  to  2d  Ed.  ISlegro  Plot. 


32      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

eleven  Negroes  were  burned  at  the  stake, 
eighteen  hanged,  and  fifty  were  transported 
and  sold,  principally  in  the  West  Indies. 
Amongst  those  hung  was  the  unfortunate 
person  alluded  to.  Whether  he  was  really  a 
Catholic  priest  or  not,  he  was  certainly  con- 
demned and  hung  as  such.  We  have  no 
other  evidence  upon  the  matter  than  Hors- 
manden's  account,  and  from  this  it  does  not 
clearly  appear  whether  he  was  really  a  priest 
or  a. non-juring  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England.^  The  most  conclusive  fact  in  favor 
of  his  being  a  priest,  is  founded  upon  the 
circumstance  that,  when  arraigned  as  a  priest, 
tried  as  a  priest,  and  condemned  as  a  priest, 
he  never  formally  denied  it,  nor  exhibited 
any  evidence  of  his  being  ordained  in  the 
Church  of  England.f 

^^  Campbell,  in  his  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll, 
lias  given  a  clear  and  able  analysis  of  the  trial  and  of  the 
evidence,  upon  which  he  concludes  that  the  unfortunate  L^ry 
was  undoubtedly  a  priest.  Horsmanden  always  speaks  of 
him  as  "Ury  the  Priest,"  in  his  history  of  the  plot. 

f  Smith,  in  his  "History  of  New-York,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  73, 
says  "that  Mr.  Smith,  his  father,  assisted,  at  the  request 
of  the  Government,  on  the  trial  against  Ury,  who  asserted 
hirt    innocence  to  the  last.       And    when    the    ferments   of 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.  33 

The  persons  most  to  blame  were  the  judges 
and  lawyers.  The  speech  of  the  attorney- 
general  on  the  trial  of  Ury,  the  sentence  given 
by  Horsmanden  npon  certain  of  the  Negroes, 
and  that  by  the  chief  justice  on  others,  are 
so  harsh,  cruel,  and  abusive,  that  we  could 
hardly  believe  it  possible  that  they  had  ut- 
tered them,  if  they  were  not  published  with 
the  authority  of  Horsmanden  himself.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  their  ^^holy  horror  of 
Popery "  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  whole 
matter  as  their  fear  of  insurrection  amongst 
the  blacks.  The  evidence  given  upon  these 
trials,  shows  that  there  were  several  Catholics 
at  that  time  in  New- York,  but  they  must 
have  scarcely  dared  to  acknowledge  it  even 

the  hour  had  subsided,  and  an  opinion  prevailed  that  the 
conspiracy  extended  no  further  than  to  create  alarms  for 
committing  thefts  with  more  ease,  the  fate  of  this  man  was 
lamented  by  some  and  regretted  by  many,  and  the  proceed- 
ings against  him  generally  condemned  as  harsh,  if  not  cruel 
and  unjust."  Ury  was  the  son  of  a  former  secretary  of  the 
South  Sea  Company.  He  was  executed  on  an  island  in  the 
Collect,  near  where  the  Halls  of  Justice  now  si  and.  "  Hugh- 
son  was  executed  on  the  southeast  point  of  H.  Rutgers' 
farm,  on  the  East  River,  not  ten  rods  from  the  southeast 
corner  of  Cherry  and  Catharine  streets." — Notes  on  New- 
York  in  the  Appendix  to  Watson's  Notes  on  Philadelphia. 

2* 


84:      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

to  one  anotlier ;  and  it  continued  thus,  un- 
doubtedly, down  to  the  time  of  the  revolu- 
tionary contest. 

The  first  priests  who  ofiiciated  in  the  city 
in  any  way  in  a  public  manner,  were  the 
chaplains  of  the  French  troops,,  who  had  been 
-sent  over  to  aid  the  colonies  in  their  struggle. 
I  "find  a  manuscript  note  amongst  the  late 
Bishop  Brute's  papers,  in  which  he  speaks 
of  hearing  "  Mother  Seton  say,  that  it  was  a 
great  object  of  curiosity  amongst  the  New- 
Yorkers  to  attend  the  celebration  of  mass  by 
the  chaplains  of  the  French  troops  at  the  time 
of  the  war.""^ 

*  I  have  let  the  note  stand  in  the  text  as  originally 
inserted,  though  evidently  erroneous.  ]N"ew-York  was  in 
possession  of  the  British  troops  during  the  whole  of  the 
war.  The  French  auxiliaries,  under  Rochambeau,  landed 
at  K'ewport,  and  passing  through  Connecticut,  crossed  the 
Hudson  a  short  distance  above  the  city.  They  remained 
some  time  in  Philadelphia,  but  were  not  in  N'ew-York.  The 
Abbe  R6bin,  who  was  a  chaplain  in  Rochambeau's  army, 
published  an  interesting  account  of  the  campaign  in  a  small 
12mo.  vol.,  under  the  title,  "Noveau  Voyage  dans  I'Amer- 
ique  Septentrionale,  en  1781,  et  Campaigne  de  TArmee  de 
M.  Le  Conte  de  Rochambeau:  Phil,  et  Paris,  1782,"  a  copy 
of  which  is  in  the  library  of  the  New- York  Hist.  Society. 
Mother  Seton  may  have  referred  to  M.  de  la  Motte,  or  to 
some  subsequent  time. 


ON   TJIE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.  35 

In  1778,  in  the  month  of  February,  a  large 
French  ship  was  taken  by  the  British,  near 
the  Chesapeake,  and  sent  for  condemnation 
into  New-York,  at  that  time  still  in  possession 
of  the  English.  Amongst  her  ofj&cers  was 
a  priest,  of  the  name  of  De  la  Motte,  of  the 
order  of  St.  Augustine,  who  was  chaplain  of 
the  vessel.  Being  permitted  to  go  at  large  in 
the  city,  he  was  solicited  by  his  countrymen, 
and  by  those  of  his  own  faith,  to  celebrate 
mass.  Being  advised  of  the  existence  of  a 
prohibitory  law,  he  applied  to  the  command- 
ing officer  for  permission,  which  was  refused  : 
but  M.  de  la  Motte,  not  knowing  the  language 
very  well,  mistook  what  was  intended  for  a 
refusal  as  a  permission,  and  accordingly  cele- 
brated mass.  For  this  he  was  arrested,  and 
kept  in  close  confinement  until  exchanged. 
This  was  under  Governor  Tryon's  administra- 
tion."^ 

*  Account  in  New- York  Herald,  published  at  the  time  of 
the  opening  of  New  St.  Peter's  Church.  Greenleaf,  in  the 
** History  of  the  Churches  of  all  Denominations  in  New- 
York,"  relates  this  circumstance  on,  I  suppose,  the  same 
authority.  The  writer  was,  I  believe,  Thomas  O'Connor, 
Esq. 


86      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


CHAPTEE  II. 

The  Revolution— Hostility  of  the  new  Government— Proscriptive 
Acts — A  Bishopric  erected  in  the  United  States — Father  Farmer 
founds  the  first  Church  in  the  City  of  New-York— Early  Pastors 
of  St.  Peter's— Their  Difficulties— St.  Patrick's  begun— Riot  on 
Christmas  Eve. 

The  last  act  of  the  British  rule  in  New- York 
towards  us  was,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  hos- 
tility and  oppression.  A  new  Government 
now  arose,  independent  of  the  crown.  The 
mind  of  the  people  was,  however,  adverse  to 
Catholicity,  and  prejudice,  deep-rooted  al- 
ready, had  gained  new  strength  in  the  border 
colonies,  by  the  toleration  or  rather  protection 
extended  to  the  Church  establishment  in  Can- 
ada, by  the  celebrated  Quebec  act.  In  New- 
York  both  parties  seemed  to  be  unison  in 
their  hostility  to  the  Church  of  Eome.  On 
the  assumption  of  power  by  the  Provincial 
Congress,  the  Catholic  alone  was  fettered  and 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  37 

deprived  of  civil  rights.  It  would  seem  na- 
tural that  all  distinctions  should  have  been 
abolished  at  this  auspicious  moment,  but  the 
fetters  had  been  put  on  so  tightly  that  they 
were  not  immediately  struck  off,  even  by  the 
freedom  of  the  colonies.  Though  Catholics 
had  borne  no  unimportant  part  in  the  strug- 
gle, and  the  success  of  the  colonies  had  been 
attained  by  the  assistance  of  foreign  Catho- 
lics, yet  the  members  of  the  convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  New- York  in  1777, 
at  Kingston,  were  disposed  to  keep  up  the 
restrictions  upon  them.  A  clause  in  regard 
to  naturalization  having  been  introduced, 
by  which  persons  coming  into  the  State  were 
made  citizens  by  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance, 
the  celebrated  John  Jay,  afterwards  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  United  States,  moved  that  a  clause 
be  added,  requiring  them  *Ho  abjure  and  re- 
nounce all  allegiance  and  subjection  to  all 
and  every  foreign  king,  priest,  potentate,  and 
state,  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical  and  civil."  * 

*  See  Journal  of  the  Provincial  Convention,  vol,  i.,  p.  551, 
et  seq.,  published  by  order  of  the  Legislature  in  1842.  See 
App.,  No.  III. 


38      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Messrs.  Morris,  Livingston,  and  some  others 
in  the  convention,  opposed  Mr.  Jay's  amend- 
ment ;  but  it  was  finally  carried,  and  Catholics 
coming  from  foreign  countries  were  conse- 
quently excluded  from  citizenship  by  the 
State  Constitution  of  1777.^  Congress,  how- 
ever, having  reserved  to  itself  the  power  of 
making  laws  of  naturalization,  this  clause  and 
the  accompanying  amendment  became  inoper- 
ative. 

With  this  attempt  to  keep  up  the  intoler- 
ance of  the  English  colonial  government,  all 
legislation  opposed  to  the  free  exercise  of  the 
Catholic  religion  ceased;  and  such  Catholics 
as  were  in  the  City  of  New-York  at  the  time 
of  its  evacuation  by  the  British  troops,  in  1783, 
began  to  assemble  for  the  open  celebration  of 
the  offices  of  religion.f 

*  The  Hon.  B.  F.  Butler,  in  his  discourse  before  the  New- 
York  Historical  Society,  praises  the  Constitution  of  1111  on 
account  of  its  containing  no  provision  repugnant  to  civil 
and  religious  toleration ;  and  yet  he  mentions  this  act  ex- 
pressly.— Col.  Hist.  Soc,  2d  ser.,  vol.  ii.,  part  I.,  p.  45. 

f  The  law  of  1700,  in  regard  to  "Popish  Priests  and 
Jesuits,"  was  repealed  by  an  express  act  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  New-York  in  1784.  Although  the  law  re- 
quiring  the   oath    as   a   condition   of    naturalization    was 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.  39 

The  first  priest  who  officiated  for  them  was 
the  venerable  Father  Farmer,  who  came  on 
from  Philadelphia  occasionally  for  that  pur- 
pose. For  a  while  they  were  obliged  to  make 
use  of  any  large  room  that  could  be  obtained 
for  the  purpose.  Tradition  says  that  mass 
was  celebrated,  in  1781-82,  in  a  loft  over  a 
carpenter's  shop,  near  Barclay-street,  then  in 
the  suburbs  of  JSTew-York.  It  was  also  some- 
times celebrated  in  the  parlor  of  the  Spanish 
Consul,  Don  Thomas  Stoughton,  and,  in  1785, 
in  the  house  of  Don  Diego  de  Grardoqui,^  the 


annulled,  yet  the  clauses  were  inserted  (Act  concerning 
Oaths,  passed  2d  April,  1801)  in  the  official  oath,  and  re- 
mained so  until  1806,  when,  on  a  petition  from  the  Catholics 
of  New- York,  got  up  by  the  Trustees  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
it  was  finally  abrogated,  on  the  occasion  of  the  late  Mr. 
Francis  Cooper  being  elected  a  member  of  the  Assembly 
from  this  city.  It  is  mentioned,  in  a  note  to  the  minutes  of 
the  Trustees  of  St.  Peter's,  that  the  petition  was  signed  in  a 
short  time  by  1300  persons.  Whether  these  were  all  Catho- 
lics I  have  no  means  of  knowing,  though,  from  the  w^ording 
of  the  petition,  I  would  suppose  it  was  so.  Under  the  Eng- 
lish Colonial  Government,  the  usual  oaths  against  Transub- 
stantiation,  and  of  allegiance  to  the  House  of  Hanover,  were 
taken  by  the  members  of  the  council  and  other  officials.  See 
Communication  from  J.  C.  Devereux,  Esq.,  to  the  U.  States 
Catholic  Magazine,  for  July,  1847. 
*  :^7ew-Yo^k  Packet,  Nov.  V,  1785. 


40      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Spanish  Ambassador,  then  resident  in  New- 
York,  which  was  at  that  time  the  temporary 
seat  of  the  General  Government.  Mr.  Vel- 
asquez informs  me  that  Stoughton  lived  at 
that  time  in  Water-street,  and  that  mass  was 
first  celebrated  in  the  second  story  of  a  small 
frame-house  near  his  residence.^ 

Mr.  Campbell,  in  his  ^^Life  and  Times  of 
Archbishop  CarrjDll,"  has  given  quotations 
from  Rev.  Mr.  (afterwards  Archbishop)  Oar- 
roll's-  letters  to  his  friend,  the  Eev.  Charles 
Plowden,  written  at  this  time,  which  give  the 
most  authentic  account  of  the  formation  of 
a  regular  Catholic  congregation  in  New-York. 
In  a  letter,  dated  15th  of  December,  1785,  he 
says,  ^'The  congregation  at  New- York,  begun 
by  the  venerable  Mr.  Farmer  of  Philadelphia, 

*  Mr.  Greenleaf,  in  his  "History  of  the  Churches  of  K'ew- 
York,"  says  that  their  first  place  of  worship,  after  they  (the 
Catholics)  became  organized,  was  a  building  erected  for 
public  purposes  in  Vauxhall  Garden,  situated  on  the  margin 
of  the  North  River.  The  garden  extended  from  Warren  to 
Chambers-street.  He  also  adds,  that,  in  1785,  not  being 
well  accommodated  with  a  place  of  worship,  they  applied 
for  the  use  of  the  **  Exchange,"  a  building  then  standing  on 
the  lower  end  of  Broad-street,  and  occupied  as  a  court- 
room ;  but  failing  in  this,  measures  were  immediately  taken 
for  the  erection  of  a  church  building. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOKK.  41 

he  has  now  ceded  to  an  Irish  Capuchin  resident 
there.  The  prospect  at  that  place  is  pleasing 
on  the  whole.  The  Capuchin  is  a  zealous, 
pious,  and,  I  think,  humble  man.  He  is  not 
indeed  so  learned  or  so  good  a  preacher  as  I 
could  wish,  which  mortifies  his  congregation ; 
as  at  New- York,  and  most  other  places  in 
America,  the  different  sectaries  have  scarce 
any  other  test  to  judge  of  a  clergyman  than 
his  talents  for  preaching,  and  our  Irish  con- 
gregations, such  as  New-York,  follow  the 
same  rule," 

The  person  referred  to  in  this  letter  was  the 
Eev.  Charles  Whelan,  an  Irish  Franciscan, 
who  had  served  as  chaplain  on  board  of  one 
of  the  French  ships  belonging  to  Admiral  De 
Grasse's  fleet,  engaged  in  assisting  the  cause 
of  the  colonies.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
determined  to  go  on  the  American  mission, 
and  became  the  first  regularly  settled  priest 
in  the  City  of  New- York.* 

Not  only  as  vicar,  but  as  founder  of  the 

*  I  have  been  informed  that  Lafayette  strongly  recom- 
mended the  Rev.  Mr.  Whelan  to  the  kindness  of  the  au- 
thorities of  the  State,  at  the  time  he  left  to  return  to  France. 


42      HISTOKY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

little  Catholic  congregation  in  the  City  of 
New- York,  Father  Farmer  continued  to  take 
an  interest  in  it,  and  to  visit  it  occasionally 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1786."^ 

In  a  letter  written  to  Eev.  Mr.  Carroll,  and 
dated  21st  February,  1785,  he  says,  '^The 
Eev.  Mr.  Whelan,  from  New-York,  writeth  to 
me  that  he  counts  about  two  hundredy  Soon 
after  this,  Father  Farmer  paid  a  visit  to  New- 
York,  and  on  his  return  he  writes  to  Eev.  Mr. 
Carroll,  that  ^'the  congregation  there  seems  to 
me  to  be  yet  in  a  poor  situation,  and  under 
many  difficulties."  ''  Father  Whelan,  since  get- 
ting faculties,  had  only  twenty  odd  communi- 

*  The  Rev.  Ferdinand  Farmer,  whose  real  name  was 
Steenmeyer,  was  born  in  Suabia,  October  13,  1720;  entered 
the  Xovitiate  at  Landsperge  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  ;  was 
admitted  to  the  profession  of  the  four  vows  2d  February, 
1761.  United  to  the  English  province,  he  was  sent  to  the 
Maryland  mission,  where,  Dr.  Carroll  said,  *'he  did  much 
good  until  his  death,  I7th  August,  1786." — Oliver's  Collec- 
tion towards  Illustrating  the  Biography  of  the  Scotch,  Eng- 
lish, and  Irish  Members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  p.  89.  For 
a. more  extended  account  of  the  labors  of  this  most  zealous 
missionary,  see  Campbell's  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop 
Carroll ;  Catholic  Magazine,  vol.  iv.,  p.  256,  et  seq.  Bishop 
Brut6,  in  some  manuscript  notes  on  the  Pennsylvania  Mis- 
sion, alludes  to  him  thus:  "Father  Farmer  came  to  America 
in  1762,  died  at  Philadelphia  in  1786,  in  odore  sanclitatis." 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.  43 

cants,  and  I  had  eighteen,  three  of  whom  were 
Germans.     When  I  left  New-York  they  were 

entirely  out  of  place  for  keeping  church 

Scarce  was  I  arrived  there/'  he  adds,  *^when 
an  Irish  merchant  paid  me  a  visit,  and  asked 
me  if  Mr.  Whelan  was  settled  over  them.  My 
answer,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  was,  that  he 
had  only  power  to  perform  parochial  duties ; 
but  if  the  congregation  did  not  like  him,  and 
could  better  themselves,  they  were  not  obliged 
to  keep  him.  Some  days  after,  another  see- 
ing Mr.  Whelan's  endeavors  to  settle  himself 
there,  as  it  were,  in  spite  of  them,  declared  to 
me  he  had  a  mind  to  apply  to  the  Legislature 
for  a  law  that  no  clergyman  should  be  forced 
upon  them,  which  he  thought  he  could  easily 
obtain.  I  endeavored  to  reconcile  them,  by 
telling  Mr.  Whelan  to  make  himself  agreeable 
to  his  countrymen,  and  by  telling  these  to  be 
contented  with  what  they  had  at  present,  for 
fear  of  worse." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Whelan  was  appointed  over 
the  Catholics  of  New-York,  another  clergy- 
man of  the  same  order  arrived  there,  the  Eev. 
Mr.  Nugent.     The  Eev.  Mr.  Carroll  would  not 


44      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

permit  him  to  exercise  functions  for  some  time 
after  his  arrival,  in  consequence  of  a  prohibi- 
tion from  Rome,  forbidding  him  to  employ 
any  clergyman  on  the  mission  who  had  not 
been  approved  of  by  the  congregation  of  Pro- 
paganda. Afterwards,  however,  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Carroll  was  left  to  his  own  discretion  in  the 
matter,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nugent  received 
permission  to  assist  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whelan  in 
his  duties  at  New-York. 

They  do  not,  however,  appear  to  have  got 
along  very  well  together ;  and  Father  Farmer, 
in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  dated  Decem- 
ber 20th,  incloses  one  from  Mr.  Whelan,  with 
^' great  complaint  against  his  confrere." 

In  a  letter,  dated  Philadelphia,  December 
27th,  1785,  it  appears  that  there  was  also  at 
this  time  a  French  priest  at  New-York,  named 
La  Valiniere,  who  was  employed  in  look- 
ing after  the  Canadians  and  French  who  were 
in  the  city. 

The  contest  between  Father  Whelan  and 
Nugent  came  at  length  to  such  a  height  that 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll  was  obliged  to  interfere. 
The   congregation,  it  seems,  were   not   over 


OK  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  45 

friendly  toward  Father  Whelan,  and  Eev.  Mr. 
Farmer  alludes  in  one  of  his  letters  to  a  vote 
taken  in  the  congregation,  whether  Father 
Whelan  should  be  removed,  and  that  only 
four  of  the  congregation  were  in  favor  of  his 
remaining;  and  he  adds:  ^' Mr.  Whelan  in- 
forms me  that  ever  since  Christmas  they  have 
taken  from  him  the  collection,  which  is  usual- 
ly made  on  Sundays  after  church,  and  which 
was  his  support.  Your  Eeverence  is  very 
sensible  of  the  irregularity  of  these  proceed- 
ings." 

Father  Whelan  being  driven  out,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1786,  went  ^Ho  pay  a  visit  to  his 
brother,  forty-five  miles  beyond  Albany.""^ 
Father  Nugent  expected  to  be  appointed  in 
his  place,  with  full  faculties,  but  his  previous 
conduct  does  not  seem  to  have  gained  for  him 


*  Amongst  the  subscribers  to  Gary's  edition  of  the  Catho- 
lic Bible,  Philadelphia,  1790  (the  first  edition  of  the  Catholic 
Bible  published  in  the  United  States),  I  find  Rev.  William 
O'Brien,  JSTew-York;  Charles  Whelan,  Johnstown^  New- 
York.  Father  WTielan  was  subsequently  sent  by  Bishop 
Carroll  on  the  Kentucky  Mission.  He  was  the  first  mis- 
sionary in  that  State.  See  Bishop  Spalding's  Sketches,  p. 
42.     He  returned  and  died  in  Maryland,  1809. 


46      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  good  opinion  of  Father  Farmer.^  In  a 
letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  dated  March  6th, 
1786,  he  (Father  Farmer)  remarks :  *^  What  to 
me  is  the  greatest  difl&culty  in  the  appointment 
of  Father  Nugent,  is  the  arbitrary  and  ungen- 
erous manner  in  which  they  forced  poor  Fa- 
ther Whelan  to  depart,  who,  though  he  was 
not  very  learned,  yet  he  was  ready  to  ask  and 
take  advice,  which  I  believe  is  not  the  quality 
of  the  former.  The  second  is,  they  who  take 
upon  them  to  be  the  trustees  (at  least  some  of 
them)  have  the  principle  that  they  can  choose 
for  themselves  whom  they  please,  whether 
approved  by  the  Superior  or  not,  as  I  formerly 
heard  they  said,  and  now  the  fact  proves. 
The  principle  is  of  the  most  pernicious  conse- 
quences, and  must  be  contradicted." 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  dated  April  13th, 
1786,  Father  Farmer  writes  that,  *'  the  trustees 
at  New-York  offered  Mr.  Nugent,  for  his 
yearly  salary,  three  hundred  dollars,  the  Sun- 


*  After  Father  Whelan  went  away,  Father  Farmer  sent 
to  M.  de  la  Yalioiere,  the  French  priest,  who  was  still  in 
the  city,  "powers  to  perform  parochialia  without  restric- 
tions to  the  French." 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  47 

day  collections  included;  but  he  demanded 
four  hundred,  upon  which  they  declared  to 
him,  if  he  was  not  satisfied  he  had  liberty  to 
depart  and  welcome."  ^ 

As  Mr.  Campbell  very  justly  remarks  in 
producing  these  letters,  ^'It  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  history,  and  to  show  the  per- 
nicious tendency  of  the  trustee  system,  to 
remark,  that,  at  the  period  of  this  presumptu- 
ous interference  of  the  trustees  of  the  Catholic 
congregation  of  New- York  with  the  spiritual 
government  of  the  Church,  they  were  not  in 
possession  of  an  edifice  of  their  own  in  which 
to  perform  divine  worship,  but  were  under 
the  necessity  of  hiring  a  room  for  the  pur- 
pose."! 

In   1785,  an    act    of  incorporation  of  St. 

*  In  the  New-York  City  Directory  for  1786  (the  first 
published),  Father  Nugent  is  put  down  as  "Rev.  Andrew 
Nugent,  parish  priest  of  New- York,  No.  1  Hunter's  Quay." 
In  the  directory  for  1792,  appears  the  name  of  the  Rev. 
Nicholas  Burke,  pastor  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  apostolic 
priest,  41  Partition-street,  though  I  find  no  mention  of  his 
name  in  the  books  of  the  church.  Partition-street  was  the 
portion  of  Fulton-street  between  Broadway  and  the  North 
River. 

f  Address  of  Thomas  O'Connor,  Esq.,  Sunday  evening, 
July  19th,  1840,  at  a  meeting  of  St.  Peter's  Society. 


48      HISTORY    OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Peter's  Church  was  obtained  from  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New- York,  and  early  in 
1786  five  lots  were  purchased  from  the  trustees 
of  Trinity  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Barclay 
and  Church  streets,  upon  which  old  St.  Peter's 
Church — the  first  Catholic  Church  in  the  city 
of  New-York — was  built.  The  Spanish  Am- 
bassador to  the  United  States,  Don  Diego  de 
Gardoqui,  laid  the  first  stone/^  Its  chief 
benefactor  was  Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain, 
who  contributed,  Mr.  Campbell  says,  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  towards  its  erection,  on  the  con- 
dition of  reserving  two  seats  for  Spaniards 
passing  through  the  city ;  but  I  am  disposed 
to  think  that  the  sum  is  very  much  exagger- 
ated, and  the  condition  thought  of  after- 
wards. Mr.  O'Connor  enumerates  amongst 
its  early  benefactors  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur, 
Consul-general  of  France  ;  Don  Thomas 
Stoughton,  Consul-general  of  Spain  ;  Jose 
Euiz  Sylva,  Dominick  Lynch,  James  Stew- 
ard, Henry  Duffin,  Andrew  Morris,  Gibbon 
Burke,    Charles    Naylor,    William    Bryson, 

*  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Charles 
Borromeo,  patron  of  the  king. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  49 

William  Mooneyj  George  Barnwell,  and  John 
Sullivan. 

In  the  same  year  Father  Farmer  died  at 
Philadelphia,  and,  in  1787,  Bishop  Carroll 
found  it  necessary  to  deprive  Mr.  Nugent  of 
his  charge  over  the  congregation.^  The  Eev. 
William  O'Brien,  a  Dominican,  ^^well  recom- 
mended by  Archbishop  Troy,  of  Dublin,"  as 
Bishop  Carroll  mentions  in  a  letter  to  Father 
Plowden,  dated  7th  November,  1787,  was  sub- 
stituted in  his  place. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  O'Brien  was  an  intelligent 
and  faithful  priest.  Soon  after  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  charge  of  St.  Peter's,  he  visited 
Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  means  to 
finish  and  adorn  the  church.  Mr.  Velasquez 
states  that  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico,  at 
that  time,  Don  Alonzo  Nunez  de  Haro  by 
name,  had  been  a  fellow-student  with  Father 
O'Brien  at  Bologna,  in  Italy,  and  that  he  re- 

*  Mr.  Campbell  gives  a  copy  of  an  interesting  exhortation 
addressed  to  the  congregation  by  the  bishop  on  the  occasion 
of  making  this  change  of  pastors.  I  find  in  the  minutes  of 
the  Trustees  of  St.  Peter's  in  1790,  that  a  collection  was  made 
amongst  themselves  to  pay  Rev.  Mr.  Nugent's  passage  to 
France  in  a  vessel  called  La  Telemaque. 

3 


50      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ceived  him  very  kindly.  I  find  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  that  he  collected  $4920  in  Mexico, 
besides  a  donation  of  $1000  from  the  Bishop 
and  Chapter  of  Puebla  de  los  Angeles.  He 
also  obtained  some  paintings  which  he  placed 
in  the  church."^ 

Doctor  O'Brien  continued  to  perform  zeal- 
ously the  duties  of  a  good  pastor  for  many 
years  after  his  return.  He  was  quite  infirm 
the  last  few  years  of  his  life,  and  died  the  14th 
May,  1816.t 

*  Mr.  Velasquez  informs  me  that  the  painting  of  the 
Crucifixion  in  St.  Peter's  was  bj  Jose  Maria  Vallejo,  a  cele- 
brated Mexican  painter. 

f  He  was  buried  by  the  side  of  the  church.  The  original 
monument  erected  over  his  remains,  has  been  inserted  in  the 
wall  of  the  passage  leading  to  the  sacristy,  in  the  basement 
of  the  new  church.     It  bears  llie  following  inscription : 

UNDER   THIS    HUMBLE    TURF 

REPOSE    THE    MORTAL    REMAINS 

OF   THE 

MUCH    TO    BE    REGRETTED    AND    ONCE   VENERABLE 

PASTOR   OF   ST.  PETER's, 

THE    REV.    WILLIAM    V.    O'BRIEN. 

Who  departed  this  life  on  the  lith  of  May, 

1816, 

AGED    SEVENTY-SIX   YEARS. 

Who  is  there  that  has  not  heard  of  his  piety, 
His  benevolence,  his  charity,  his  zeal  during 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  51 

The  affairs  of  tlie  church,  went  on  quietly 
under  his  management ;  and  the  only  thing  I 
find  worthy  of  being  recorded  for  some  time, 
was  the  establishment  of  a  free  school  in 
1800* 

Some  years  after,  his  assistant,  the  Eev. 
Matthew  0'Brien,f  received  into  the  Church 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Seton,  afterwards  the  foun- 
dress of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United 

The  ravages  of  the  yellow  fever 

In  the  memorable  years  of  '95  and  '98  ? 

Yesl  "I  was  sick  and  you  visited  me." — Matt.y  xxv.,  36. 

Reader !  pass  not  by  without  offering  up  some 

Short  prayer  for  the  benefit  of  his  soul ; 

For  Kemember  that  "  It  is  a  holy  and  wholesome 

Thought  to  pray  for  the  dead,  that  they  may  be  loosed 

From  their  sins." — Macc^  ii.,  12,  46. 

R.    L    P. 

*  From  a  report  made  by  the  trustees  to  the  superinten- 
dent of  common  schools,  in  1824,  it  appears  that  the  average 
number  of  scholars  had  been  from  the  commencement  about 
:five  hundred,  and  the  same  number  at  St.  Patrick's  School. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Tissoraut,  an  estimable  French  priest,  was 
at  this  time  (1806)  living  at  Elizabethtown,  where  there  were 
some  French  Catholics  who  had  been  driven  from  the  French 
West  India  Islands.  See  account  of  him  in  Dr.  White's  Life 
of  Mother  Seton,  p.  171.  Bishop  Brut6  remarks,  in  speak- 
ing of  old  St.  Peter's:  "Many  worthy  priests  have  officiated 
there :  M.Tissoraut,  F.  Kohl  man,  Cheverus,  M.  Matignon,  <fec." 

f  The  Rev.  Matthew  O'Brien  was  a  brother  of  Doctor 
O'Brien,  and  for  many  years  assisted  him  at  St  Peter's.  He 
died  at  Baltimore^  on  tlie  20th  of  October,  1816. 


52      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

States.  She  made  her  first  communion  in  St, 
Peter's  Church,  on  the  25th  of  March,  1805.^ 
On  Christmas  Eve,  1806,  a  number  of  riot- 
ous persons  assembled  about  the  church,  and, 
being  disappointed  that  there  was  no  mid- 
night mass,  attempted  to  make  a  disturbance, 
but  were  driven  away  by  some  members  of 
the  congregation.  The  next  evening  a  riot 
took  23lace  in  Augusta-street  (now  City  Hall 
Place),  in  consequence  of  an  assault  made  by 
the  same  persons  upon  the  Catholics  living 
there  (it  was  chiefly  inhabited  by  the  Irish), 
and  in  it  a  watchman,  named  Christopher 
Neurwauger,  was  killed,  and  several  persons 
injured.  The  Evening  Post  of  December 
26th,  1806,  says,  that  the  party  who  made 
the  attack  upon  the  church,  and  who  caused 
the  subsequent  riot,  belonged  to  a  set  of  row- 
dies who  at  that  time  infested  the  city,  called 
High- Binders.  The  mayor,  DeWitt  Clinton, 
issued  a  proclamation,  offering  a  reward  for 
the  apprehension  of  the  ringleaders,  and  for 
the  discovery  of  the  person  who  killed  the 
watchman. 

*  See  her  Life  by  Dr.  White:  Dunigan,  1853. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOEK.  53 


CHAPTER  III. 

See  of  New-York  erected — The  first  Bishop — Dr.  Concanen — Hig 
Death  at  Naples — St.  Patrick's  built — The  Jesuits  in  New-York 
—  The  Confessiona  and  its  Rights  —  Important  Decision  —  Dr. 
Connolly,  the  second  Bishop — His  Diary — His  Clergy — Estab- 
lishments erected  during  his  Administration — His  Death. 

Up  to  this  time  New- York  formed  part  of  the 
Diocese  of  Baltimore,  the  only  one  in  the 
United  States:  but  it  had  now  become  evi- 
dent that  the  increasing  number  of  Catholics 
would  require  a  subdivision  of  its  immense 
territory,  and  additional  bishops  to  meet  the 
increasing  wants  of  churches  and  clergy. 
Accordingly,  Pius  VIL,  in  1808,  erected  Bal- 
timore into  an  Archiepiscopal  See,  and,  re- 
serving a  considerable  district  to  it,  divided 
the  rest  between  four  new  sees.  Of  these 
suffragan  sees,  New- York  was  one. 

The  Eev.  Luke  Concanen,  of  the  order  of 
St.  Dominic,  was  named  as  the  first  Bishop  of 


54      HISTORY   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

New-York,  and  was  consecrated  at  Eome  on 
the  24th  of  April,  1808,  by  his  eminence, 
Cardinal  Antonelli,  at  that  time  Prefect  of  the 
Sacred  Congregation  of  Propaganda.  Father 
Concanen  was  distinguished  in  his  order  as  a 
man  of  great  learning  and  capacity  for  busi- 
ness, and  had  filled  several  distinguished  sta- 
tions in  it;  having  been  Professor  of  Theology, 
and  Prior  of  the  Convent  at  Lisbon ;  Prior  of 
St.  Clements  at  Eome,  and  Librarian  of  the 
Minerva."^ 

Soon  after  his  consecration,  he  left  Eome  on 
his  way  to  his  new  diocese,  and  was  intrusted 
with  the  Pallium  for  Archbishop  Carroll.  He 
went  to  Naples,  where  he  hoped  to  find  a  ship 
to  convey  him  to  the  United  States ;  but  the 
French  authorities,  who  at  that  time  had  pos- 
session of  the  city,  detained  him  as  being  a 
British  subject,  and  he  very  soon  after  died 


*  Father  Concanen  was  mucli  esteemed  in  Rome.  Bishop 
Brut6,  speaking  of  the  new  appointments  in  a  manuscript 
Sketch  of  Catholicity  in  the  United  States,  mentions  Bishop 
Concanen  as  being  "  tr^s  cher  a  Pie  VII."  From  a  letter 
of  his  to  Father  O'Brien,  dated  Rome,  February  2 2d,  1800, 
in  my  possession,  it  appears  that  he  had  previously  been 
nominated  to  a  See  in  Ireland,  but  had  declined. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  55 

suddenly^^ — not  without  suspicion  of  having 
been  poisoned,  to  obtain  possession  of  such 
effects  as  he  had  with  hini.f 

Though  deprived  thus  prematurely  of  its 
bishop,  New- York  had  received  an  impulse 
from  its  erection  into  a  see,  and  religion  ad- 
vanced under  the  administration  of  vicars 
general.:]: 

In  1809,  it  was  found  necessary,  on  account 

*  "  On  a  appris  la  mort  de  M.  Concanen,  Dominicain,  de- 
sign6  Ev^que  de  New- York,  mort  a  Naples,  etant  empeche 
de  partir  par  la  Police,  son  passage  deja  paye." — MS.  Note 
by  Bishop  Brute,  13th  Sept.,  1810. 

•(•  Bishop  Concanen  is  still  remembered  in  his  order  as 
having  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  American  Mission.  It 
was  at  his  instigation  that  the  first  House  of  Dominicans 
was  founded  in  Kentucky,  and  he  was  afterwards  a  consid- 
erable benefactor  to  it. — From  Letter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Young,  of 
Ohio,  O.  S.  D. 

if  In  a  list  of  clergy  in  the  United  States  from  1632  to 
1828,  by  Bishop  Brute,  under  the  date  of  1814,  he  writes 
the  name  of  Father  Anthony  Kohlman,  Yicar  General  of 
New-York,  sede  vacante.  It  appears,  however,  from  a  letter 
of  Father  Grassi  to  Bishop  Brute,  that,  though  Bishop  Con- 
canen had  named  Father  Kohlman  V.  G.,  his  superiors  would 
not  permit  him  to  accept  the  appointment.  However  this 
may  be,  he  certainly  exercised  the  office,  for  I  have  seen 
letters  signed  by  him  as  Vicar  General,  sede  vacante,  in  the 
archives  of  the  Diocese  of  Quebec.  FatherFe  nwick  signs 
his  name  as  Y.  G.  in  the  register  of  St.  Peter's  during  the 
year  1816. 


56      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

of  the  increase  of  the  Catholic  population,  to 
erect  another  church;  and  the  corner-stone  of 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  was  laid  on  the  8th  of 
June  of  that  year.  The  Eev.  Father  Anthony 
Kohlman  seems  to  have  been  very  active  in 
his  exertions  to  collect  the  necessary  means. 
It  was  consecrated  on  Ascension  Day,  1815, 
by  the  Eight  Eev.  Bishop  Cheverus,  at  that 
time  Bishop  of  Boston,  who  also  preached  on 
the  occasion.*^  At  that  time  the  situation  it 
occupies  was  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  The 
temporal  affairs  of  the  new  church  were  man- 
aged by  the  Trustees  of  St.  Peter's ;  both 
churches  forming  but  one  corporation,  until 
1817,  when,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  they 
were  divided. 

At  this  time  the  Catholic  inhabitants  of 
the  city  enjoyed  the  services  also  of  two  dis- 

*  "Yesterday  the  elegant  new  Cathedral  Church  in  Prince 
Street  was  consecrated  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Cheverus, 
attended  by  many  of  the  clergy  belonging  to  the  Catholic 
Church.  His  Hon.  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  and  the  Trus- 
tees of  the  Church,  attended  the  procession.  About  half- 
past  nine  o'clock  the  church  was  crowded.  It  is  supposed 
the  church  contained  between  three  and  four  thousand  per- 
sons. Many  were  disappointed." — New-  York  Gazette,  May 
5th,  1815. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YOEK.  57 

tinguished  priests:  Father  Anthony  Kohl- 
man,  already  named,  and  Father  (afterwards 
Bishop)  Fenwick,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
They  were  for  several  years  stationed  at  St, 
Peter's  Church,-  they  afterwards  had  much 
to  do  with  the  erection  of  the  new  cathedral, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  school  known 
under  the  name  of  the  ^^  New-York  Literary 
Institution,"  situated  at  the  intersection  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Fiftieth-street.  They  were  both  men  of  a 
high  order  of  talent,  and  labored  most  zeal- 
ously in  doing  good..  Amongst  other  inci-' 
dents  connected  with  their  residence  here, 
was  a  visit  which  they  paid  to  the  celebrated 
Thomas  Paine  on  his  death-bed.  Bishop 
Fenwick  wrote  an  account  of  the  interview, 
which  was  published  in  the  Catholic  Magazine 
of  Baltimore,  October,  1846.*^ 

After  the  erection  of  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
Patrick,  they  both  officiated  in  it  till  they 

*  I  have  in  my  possession  a  letter  from  Father  Kohlman 
to  Mother  Seton,  in  which  he  alludes  to  this  interview.  He 
speaks  of  Paine  as  "  one  worried  in  mind,  afflicted  in  body, 
and  unwilling  to  suffer ;  in  fine,  as  given  up  to  all  the  hor- 
rors of  despair." 

3* 


58      HISTOKY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

were  recalled  from  New- York  by  their  supe- 
riors  in  ISIT,*^ 

*  Father  Fen  wick  was  born  in  Maryland,  September,  17  82^ 
of  an  old  English  Catholic  family  long  settled  in  that  State. 
He  was  ordained  in  1807,  and,  in  1808,  was  stationed  at  St. 
Peter's  Church.  On  being  recalled  from  jS'ew-York  in  1817, 
he  was  made  president  of  Georgetown  College,  and  after- 
wards occupied  various  responsible  offices  in  his  order.  Id 
1825,  he  succeeded  Bishop  Cheverus  in  the  See  of  Boston, 
and  was  consecrated  on  the  first  of  November  in  that  year. 
Having  accomplished  much  for  the  good  of  religion,  he  died 
in  his  episcopal  city  on  the  11th  of  August,  1846.  Mr. 
Brownson  has  given  a  very  just  sketch  of  this  eminent  pre- 
late in  his  Review  for  October,  1846. 

Father  Anthony  Kohlman  was  born  at  Kaiser sburg,  July 
13th,  1771.  During  the  French  Revolution  he  was  ordained 
in  Switzerland,  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Association  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  labored  for  several  years  in  Austria  and  Italy, 
In  1805,  he  entered  the  Jesuit  ]S^o vitiate  at  Dunebourg,  and 
two  years  after  was  sent  to  the  United  States,  where  he  re- 
mained for  twenty -two  years.  Leaving  JSTew-York  in  1817, 
he  was  made  Master  of  Kovices  at  Georgetown.  In  1821, 
he  published  a  very  learned  work,  under  the  title  of  "  Uni- 
tarianism  Theologically  and  Philosophically  Examined,"  in 
answer  to  certain  letters  written  by  Mr.  Jared  Sparks  and 
other  Unitarian  ministers.  Summoned  subsequently  to 
Rome,  he  taught  theology  in  the  Roman  College,  and,  en- 
joying the  esteem  of  successive  Popes,  held  several  high 
ofl&cial  stations.  Much  esteemed  as  a  spiritual  director,  he 
died  in  April,  1838,  after  a  few  days  illness.  He  had  a 
brother,  the  Rev.  Paul  Kohlman,  of  the  same  society,  who 
assisted  him  for  some  years  at  St.  Peter's,  and  who  died  at 
Georgetown  College  on  the  11th  of  October,  1838,  aged  68 
years. 


OK   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  59 

It  was  during  their  ministry  in  the  city  of 
New-York  that  a  circumstance  occurred  which 
excited  a  good  deal  of  interest  at  the  time, 
and  led  to  a  decision  of  much  importance  to 
the  Catholic  community.  Restitution  had 
been  made  to  a  man  named  James  Keating, 
through  the  Rev.  Father  Kohlman,  of  certain 
goods  which  had  been  stolen  from  him. 
Keating  had  previously  made  a  complaint 
against  one  Philips  and  his  wife,  as  having 
received  the  goods  thus  stolen,  and  they  were 
indicted  for  a  misdemeanor  before  the  justices 
of  the  peace.  Keating  having  afterwards 
stated  that  the  goods  had  been  restored  to 
him  through  the  instrumentality  of  Father 
Kohlman,  the  latter  was  cited  before  the 
court,  and  required  to  give  evidence  in  re* 
gard  to  the  person  or  persons  from  whom  he 
had  received  them.  This  he  refused  to  do, 
on  the  ground  that  no  court  could  require  a 
priest  to  give  evidence  in  regard  to  matters 
known  to  him  only  under  the  seal  of  confes- 
sion. Upon  the  case  being  sent  to  the  grand 
jury.  Father  Kohlman  was  subpoenaed  to  at- 
tend before  them,  and  appeared  in  obedience 


60      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

to  tlie  process,  but,  in  respectful  terms,  again 
declined  answering.  On  the  trial  which  en- 
sued, Father  Kohlman  was  again  cited  to 
appear  as  a  witness  in  the  case.  Having  been 
asked  certain  questions,  he  entreated  that  he 
might  be  excused,  and  offered  his  reasons  to 
the  court.  With  consent  of  counsel  the  ques- 
tion was  put  off  for  some  time,^  and  finally 
brought  on  for  argument  on  Tuesday,  the  8th 
of  June,  1813,  before  a  court  composed  of  the 
Hon,  De  Witt  Clinton,  mayor  of  the  city ;  the 
Hon.  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman,  recorder;  and 
Isaac  S.  Douglass,  and  Eichard  Cunningham, 
Esqs.,  sitting  aldermen.  The  Hon.  Eichard 
Eiker,  afterwards  for  so  many  years  recorder 
of  the  city,  and  Counsellor  Sampson,  volun- 
teered their  services  in  behalf  of  Father  Kohl- 
man. Mr.  Eiker  argued  the  case  at  consid- 
erable length,  and  with   great   ability.     He 

*  The  district  attorney,  Mr.  Gardinier,  had  determined  to 
enter  a  nolle  prosequi  in  the  case,  but  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  requested  that  it  might  be  brought  on, 
in  order  that  the  point  should  be  determined.  Mr.  Gardi- 
nier behaved  in  the  whole  affair  with  great  fairness,  and 
seems  to  have  been  disposed  to  let  the  matter  pass,  rather 
than  excite  dissension  and  religious  animosity. 


ON   THE    ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  61 

showed  that  certain  contrary  decisions — espe- 
cially that  of  Sir  Michael  Smith,  Master  of  the 
Eolls  in  Ireland,  who  decided  that  Eev.  Mr. 
Gahan  could  not  plead  his  profession  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  to  give  evidence  in  the 
celebrated  case  of  Lord  Dunboyne— were  con- 
trary to  usage,  and  made  rather  from  preju- 
dice against  the  Catholic  religion  than  from 
any  sound  reasons.  He  showed  that,  under 
the  Constitution  of  this  State,  which  allowed 
the  fullest  toleration  to  religion,  every  princi- 
ple of  any  religious  denomination  was  pro- 
tected which  did  not  ^^  lead  to  licentiousness, 
or  to  practices  inconsistent  with  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  State."  Counsellor  Sampson  fol- 
lowed on  the  same  side,  and  in  a  speech  of 
great  eloquence  urged  the  broad  protection 
of  the  Constitution,  as  a  sufficient  and  ample 
reason  for  not  obliging  a  priest  to  give  evi- 
dence in  matters  known  to  him  only  through 
the  confessional. 

The  decision  was  given  by  De  Witt  Clinton 
at  some  length.  Having  shown  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  a  priest,  who  should  reveal  what 


62      HISTORY   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCS 

he  had  heard  in  the  confessional^  would  be- 
come infamous  and  degraded  in  the  eyes  of 
Catholics ;  and  as  no  one  could  be  called  upon 
to  give  evidence  which  would  expose  him  to 
infamy,  he  declared  that  the  only  way  was  to 
excuse  a  priest  from  answering  in  such  cases."^ 
He  also  developed  the  constitutional  ground^ 
and  urged  that  religious  toleration  v/ould  be  a 
mere  mockery  if  it  did  not  protect  all  equally. 
The  decision  of  the  court  was  unanimous. 

''.We  speak  of  this  question,"  says  Mr.  Clin- 
ton, "not  in  a  theological  sense,  but  in  its 
legal  and  constitutional  bearings.  Although 
we  differ  from  the  witness  and  his  brethren  in 
our  religious  creed,  yet  we  have  no  reason  to 
question  the  purity  of  their  motives,  or  to  im- 
peach their  good  conduct  as  citizens.  They 
are  protected  by  the  laws  and  constitution  of 
this  country,  in  the  full  and  free  exercise  of 

*  **The  witness  in  this  case  evidently  believes  that  his 
answering  in  this  case  would  expose  him  to  punishment  in  a 
future  state,  and  it  must  be  conceded  by  all  that  it  would 
expose  him  to  privations  and  disgrace  in  this  world.  If  he 
tells  the  truth,  he  violates  his  ecclesiastical  oath;  if  he  pre- 
varicates, he  violates  his  judicial  oath.  The  only  course  is 
for  the  Court  to  declare  that  he  shall  not  testify  or  act  at 
all" — Decision,  p.  102,  103. 


OK   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK:.  68 

their  religion,  and  this  court  can  never  coun- 
tenance or  authorize  the  application  of  insult 
to  their  faith,  or  of  torture  to  their  con- 
sciences."^ 

The  decision,  as  well  as  the  whole  manner 
in  which  the  discussion  was  carried  on,  shows 
that  a  great  change  had  taken  place,  not  only 
in  the  form  of  government,  but  in  the  dispo- 
sitions and  character  of  the  people,  since  the 
days  when  a  Horsmanden  had  presided  at  the 
trial  (if  it  may  be 'so  called)  of  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  the  Negro  Plot !  f 


*  The  principle  of  this  decision  was  afterwards  embodied 
in  a  statute.  "No  minister  of  the  Gospel,  or  priest  of  any 
denomination  whatsoever,  shall  be  allowed  to  disclose  any 
confessions  made  to  him  in  his  professional  character,  in  the 
course  of  discipline  enjoined  by  the  rules  or  practice  of  such 
denomination." — Key.  Stat,  of  the  State  of  New- York,  Part 
III.,  eh.  vii.,  art.  8,  sec.  72 :  Passed  as  part  of  the  Rev,  Stat. 
December  10,  1828,  and  signed  by  N.  Pitcher,  Lieut.  Gov. ; 
Governor  Clinton  having  died  in  February  of  that  year. 

f  The  whole  case  was  reported  by  Counsellor  Sampson, 
under  this  title:  "The  Catholic  Question  in  America: 
Whether  a  Roman  Catholic  Clergyman  be  in  any  case  com- 
pellable to  disclose  the  secrets  of  auricular  confession;  de- 
cided at  the  Court  of  General  Sessioos,  in  the  City  of  New- 
York;  reported  by  William  Sampson,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
counsel  in  the  case.  New-York,  printed  by  Edward  Gilles- 
pie, No.  24  Wiiliam-street,  1813." 


6i      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Some  Trappists  from  France,  and  a  few 
Ilrsulines,^  were  here  for  a  short  time  in 
1813-15 ;  but  neither  made  any  permanent 
establishment. 

Amongst  the  earliest  acts  of  Pius  VII.,  after 
his  return  to  Eome  in  1814,  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  successor  to  Bishop  Concanen  in  the 
person  of  the  Eev.  John  Connelly,  of  the  same 
illustrious  order  of  St.  Dominic,  and  at  that 
time  Prior  of  the  Convent  of  St.  Clement's, 
in  Eome.  Bishop  Connelly  was  a  native 
of  Drogheda,  in  Ireland,  but  had  spent  most 
of  his  life  in  Eome.f  I  have  been  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  possession  of  a  couple  of 
note-books  which  belonged  to  him,  and  which 
show  with  how  much  care  and  exactness  he 
managed  the  affairs  of  his  convent,  at  a  time 


*  The  Ursulines  were  incorporated  by  the  Legislature,  by 
an  act  passed  the  25th  of  March,  1814:  "An  act  to  incor- 
porate the  Ursuline  Convent  of  the  City  of  JSTew-York,"  by 
which  Christina  Fagan,  Sarah  Walsh,  Mary  Baldwin,  and 
others  are  incorporated,  <fec^  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
poor  children. 

f  He  was  appointed  to  New- York  in  the  autumn  of  1814 
(letter  to  Dr.  Troy,  Oct.  1,  1814);  was  consecrated  on  the 
6th  of  November,  1814  (Henrion,  Eccl.  Hist.).  He  left  Rome, 
January,  1815  (letter  to  Bishop  Plunkett), 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  65 

when  all  the  religious  houses  in  Eome  were 
reduced  to  great  straits  on  account  of  the  con- 
fusion attendant  upon  the  occupation  of  Eome 
by  the  French  troops.  He  also  acted  for  sev- 
eral years  as  the  agent  of  the  Irish  Bishops  in 
Eome,  and  conducted  their  affairs  with  great 
prudence.  His  experience  in  these  matters, 
joined  to  sound  learning  and  much  zeal,  fitted 
him  very  well  for  his  intended  post.  In  his 
new  diocese,  however,  every  thing  was  to  be 
created ;  and,  whilst  his  resources  were  very 
small,  the  obstacles  in  his  way  were  great. 
The  trustee  system  had  not  been  behind  its 
early  promise,  and  trustees  of  churches  had 
become  so  accustomed  to  have  every  thing 
their  own  way,  that  they  were  not  disposed 
to  allow  even  the  interference  of  a  bishop. 
Bishop  Connelly  was  not  lacking  in  firmness, 
but  the  great  wants  of  his  new  diocese  made 
it  necessary  for  him  to  fall  in,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, with  the  established  order  of  things,  and 
this  exposed  him  afterwards  to  much  difficulty 
and  many  humiliations. 

His  diocese,  which  embraced  at  that  time 
the  whole  State  of  New- York  and  a  part  of 


66      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

New  Jersey,  had  but  four  priests,  though  the 
number  of  Catholics  in  the  city  alone  was  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  thousand.  In  such  a  state 
of  things  he  was  obliged  to  assume  the  office 
of  a  missionary  priest,  rather  than  a  bishop; 
and  many  still  living  remember  the  humility 
and  earnest  zeal  with  which  he  discharged 
the  laborious  duties  of  the  confessional,  and 
traversed  the  city  on  foot  to  attend  upon  the 
poor  and  the  sick. 

The  reader  will  be  pleased  with  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  his  note-book,  which  will 
give,  better  than  any  description,  an  idea  of 
the  state  of  things  at  that  time  : 

''Ilarch  iOth,  1816.^  [Wrote]  to  Dr.  Troy 


*  About  this  time  (1816)  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kewlej,  Rector  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  of  St.  George,  in  this  citj,  became  a 
Catholic.  He  has  previously  written  a  work  on  Methodist 
Episcopacy.  He  went  abroad  after  his  conversion,  and,  I 
have  understood,  entered  a  religious  House  in  Belgium. 
Since  that  time  several  Protestant  ministers  in  Xew-York 
have  embraced  the  Catholic  religion.  To  mention  those 
only  who  were  connected  Avith  Protestant  churches  in  the 
city:  In  1840,  the  Rev.  Mr. Oertel,  a  Lutheran  minister,  was 
received  into  the  Church  by  the  Rev.  William  Quarter,  of 
St.  Mary's  Church;  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Bay  ley.  Rector  of  St. 
Andrew's  Church,  Harlem,  in  1842;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas, 
a  Baptist  minister,  in  1847  ;  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Forbes,  Rector 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  67 

an  account  of  my  voj^age  to  America  ;  illness 
here  for  nearly  two  months.  Catholics  dis- 
persed through  the  country  parts  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  New- York,  Jersey,  and  New 
England,  where  they  seldom  see  a  priest: 
they  are  not  able  to  maintain  one  in  any  par- 
ticular district  —  ambulatory  zealous  priests, 
necessary  for  them  to  prevent  their  children 
from  conforming  to  the  persuasions  of  neigh- 
boring sectaries,  who  all  of  them  have  their 
respective  ministers.  Only  four  priests  in 
this  diocese,  though  the  Catholics  of  New- 
York  and  its  district  are  about  seventeen 
thousand.  Those  of  Albany  wish  to  have 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Corr,  of  Mary's  Lane  Chapel,  for 
their  priest :  they  allow  about  eight  hundred 
dollars  a  year." 

''March  8th,  1816.  Wrote  to  Eev.  Mr.  Har- 
old, jr.,  St.  Thomas  College,  near  Black  Eock, 
Dublin,  informing  him  that  Messrs.  Stoughton 
and  Dennis  M'Carty  prayed  to  me  to  write  to 

of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  in  1849 ;  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Pres- 
ton, Assistant  at  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  in  1849 ;  the 
Rev.  F.  E.  White,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  1851;  the 
Rev.  William  Everett,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  1851 ;  the 
Rev.  Donald  M'Leod,  and  others. 


6S      HISTORY   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

him  in  their  name,  and  that  of  the  other  trus- 
tees, to  come  here  to  serve  them,  and  they 
will  settle  his  annual  salary,  and  pay  the 
expenses  of  his  voyage  on  his  arrival  here." 

''Dec,  1th,  1817.  Set  out  for  Philadelphia, 
where  I  arrived  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, on  my  way  to  Baltimore  to  assist  at  the 
consecration  of  Eev.  Mr.  Ambrose  Marechal, 
as  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  His  consecra- 
tion took  place  on  Sunday,  the  14th,  at  his 
old  Church  of  St.  Peter's.  It  was  performed 
by  Mons.  Cheverus,  of  Boston.  Monsieur  De 
Barth,  Y.  Gr.,  of  Philadelphia,  and  I  attended. 
At  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  I  received 
great  civilities  from  many  Catholics  there, 
though  my  stay  was  short,  as  I  arrived  at 
New-York  the  20th  of  said  month." 

''May  30th,  1817.  [Wrote]  to  Rev.  Michael 
Gorman,  Albany  :  Should  the  faithful  of  dif- 
ferent places  around  and  within  the  district 
of  Albany  be  required  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  priest  at  Albany,  it  is  right 
that  the  latter  should  from  time  to  time  give 
them  mass  at  their  respective  places  of  abode 
on  Sunday,  and,  in  that  case,  an  arrangement 


ON    THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOEK.  69 

agreeable  to  all  parties  on  that  subject  should 
be  prudently  formed  by  Mr.  Gorman.  Some 
trustees  desirous  that  I  should  write  for  Rev. 
Messrs.  England  and  Taylor,  of  Cloyne." 

''  Oct.  22d,  1817.  I  addressed  a  letter  to 
Eev.  Arthur  Langdill,  empowering  him  to 
celebrate  mass,  administer  the  sacraments, 
preach,  teach,  and  perform  all  other  priest- 
ly duties  that  do  not  require  the  Episcopal 
character,  throughout  this  Diocese  of  New- 
York  (excepting  the  districts  of  New-York 
and  Albany,  unless  with  the  consent  of  clergy 
serving  those  two  districts),  until  farther  or- 
ders, or  as  long  as  I  do  not  consider  it  neces- 
sary to  recall  said  powers." 

*'  Oct  23c?,  1817.  Answered  Monseigneur 
Marechal's  letter  of  the  18th  inst.,  informing 
me  that  he  and  Monseigneur  Cheverus  are  for 
Mr.  de  Barth  being  made  Bishop  of  Philadel- 
phia, informing  him  that,  as  none  of  the 
actual  prelates  of  this  province  consulted  me 
on  this  business  since  the  Pope's  acceptance 
of  his  (Mons.  Marechal's)  renunciation  of  that 
diocese,  I  commissioned  my  agent  at  Eome  to 
mention  to  Cardinal  Litta  the  name  of  the 


70      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

person  whom  I  thought  most  worthy  of  said 
vacant  see,  and  that,  as  I  cannot  now  contra- 
dict what  I  wrote  then  to  said  cardinal,  I  shall 
write  to  him  again  on  this  subject  by  the  first 
vessel  that  shall  sail  from  hence  to  Europe." 

''Jan.  22c?,  1818.  Empowered  the  Eev. 
Charles  French,  after  having  preached  on  the 
foregoing  Sunday  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  to 
administer  the  sacraments,  and  perform  all 
other  priestly  duties  in  the  diocese,  as  other 
priests  do.  Sent  the  Eev.  Michael  Gorman 
the  Indult  for  the  ensuing  Lent.  Mentioned 
the  Eev.  Mr.  French's  sermon." 

''Jan,  29th,  1818.  I  answered  the  Eev.  Ar- 
thur Langdill's  three  letters,  and  sent  him 
said  Indult,  and  addressed  the  letter  to  the 
care  of  Mr.  M'Intire,  New  Burg." 

"Feb,  25th,  1818.  In  a  letter  to  Cardinal 
Litta,  dated  this  day,  and  delivered  by  me  to 
Mr.  James  Irvine,  under  cover  addressed  to 
Mr.  John  Joseph  Argenti. —  It  filled  seven 
pages — and  mentioned  that  I  received  his  Em- 
inence's letters  of  the  5th  of  February,  19th  of 
April,  and  20th  of  September,  1817 :  that  I 
find  by  them  that  he  had  received  neither  of 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOKK.  71 

my  two  letters  of  1816,  nor  that  of  1817 — all 
of  which  I  sent  by  sure  hands  going  to  Leg- 
horn :  that  ray  voyage  hither  in  sixty-seven 
days  from  Dublin,  in  stormy  weather,  was 
painful,  and  at  times  dangerous.  A  report 
prevailed  here  that  I  was  lost  at  sea :  that  I 
found  about  thirteen  thousand  Catholics  here, 
with  only  three  Jesuits  and  F.  Carberry  to 
attend  them  :  that  I  was  soon  deprived  of 
two  of  the  Jesuits,  and  thereby  forced  to  dis- 
charge both  night  and  day  the  duties  of  a 
parish,  priest  or  vicar,  more  than  those  of  a 
bishop,  till  I  got  lately  three  good  priests 
from  Ireland.  At  present  there  are  here 
about  sixteen  thousand  Catholics,  mostly 
Irish ;  at  least  ten  thousand  Irish  Catholics 
arrived  at  New- York  only  within  these  last 
three  years.  They  spread  through  all  the 
other  States  of  this  Confederacy,  and  make 
their  religion  known  every  where.  Bishops 
ought  to  be  granted  to  whatever  State  here 
is  willing  to  build  a  Cathedral,  and  petition 
for  a  Bishop  as  Norfolk  has  done.  The  pres- 
ent Dioceses  are  quite  too  extensive.  Our 
Cathedral  owes  fifty-three  thousand   dollars, 


72      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

borro^yed  to  build  it,  for  which  it  j^ays  inter- 
est at  the  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  yearl}^  This 
burthen  hinders  us  from  supporting  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  priests,  or  from  thinking  to 
erect  a  seminary.  The  American  youth  have 
an  almost  invincible  repugnance  to  the  eccle- 
siastical state." 

^'  Oct.  'dlst^   1818.    Wrote   to   Monseigneur 

Marechal.     I  approve  of  his  plan  of  erecting 

Charleston  into  a  bishoprick,  and  wish  that 

-every  one  of  the  seventeen  United  States  had 

each  a  Bishop " 

"  Nov,^  1818.  Wrote  to  Cardinal  Litta, 
thanking  his  Eminence  for  his  kind  letter  of 
the  25th  of  July,  and  mentioned  to  him  my 
wish  expressed  to  Monseigneur  Marechal, 
that  each  of  these  United  States  had  its  own 
bishop,  as  the  best  means  for  steadily  propa- 
gating religion  in  them.  That  the  two  Caro- 
linas,  with  Georgia  and  the  Mississippi  Terri- 
tory, will,  in  less  than  twenty  years  hence, 
require  eight  bishops,  as  they  form  an  im- 
mense space.  That,  therefore,  it  would  be 
better  to  erect  Charleston  with  South  Caro- 
lina only  into  a  bishoprick,  and  to  give  the 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF    NEW-YORK.  73 

bishop  powers  of  administration  only  over 
the  rest  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Holy  See. 
I  prayed  him  to  give  them  for  their  new 
bishop  the  Eev.  Thomas  Carberry,  whom  they 
wish  for.  I  again  prayed  him,  also,  to  confer 
the  See  of  Philadelphia  on  the  Eev.  William 
Harold,  since  Mr.  De  Earth  has  declared  pub- 
licly that  he  will  not  accept  of  it  unless  forced 
to  do  so.-  .  .  .  .  " 

''April  20th,  1820.     Wrote  to  Eev.  John 

*  The  Catholic  Almanac  for  1822,  published  bj  William 
H.  Creagh,  imder  the  title  of  "  The  Laity's  Directory  to  the 
Church  Service,  for  the  Year  of  our  Lord,  1822,"  has  the 
following  list  of  the  clergy  in  the  diocese : 

Rev.  Dr.  John  Connolly,      )  g    p^^^;^^,^ 

Key.  Michael  O  Gorman,      )        r  fh  f\  ^  ] 

Rev.  Charles  French,  )  ^i.  ^:>  4.    » 

Rev.  John  Power,  |- St.  Peters, 

Rev.  Mr.  Bulger,  Paterson. 

Rev.  Michael  Carroll,  Albany  and  vicinity. 

Rev.  John  Farnan,  Utica  and  vicinity. 

Rev.  Patrick  Kelly,  Auburn,  Rochester,  and  other  dis: 
tricts  in  the  western  part  of  the  State. 

Rev.  Philip  Larissy,  attends  regularly  at  Staten  Island, 
and  different  other  congregations  along  the  Hudson 
River. 

The  above  almanac  was  the  second  Catholic  Directory 
published  in  the  United  States.  The  first  was  published  at 
IN^ew-York  in  1817,  by  Mr.  Field,  and  contained  163  pages. 
The  present  series  was  commenced  at  Baltimore  in  1833, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  United  States  Catholic  Almanac,  or 
Laity's  Directory,  for  the  year  1833.  Baltimore,  published 
by  James  Myers,  near  the  Cathedral." 

4 


Cathedral,  >  K'ew-York. 


74      HISTORY   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

DuBois,  Mount  St.  Mary's,  near  Emmetsburg, 
Maryland,  praying  him  in  the  name  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cathedral,  to  send  us  Sister 
Jane  as  soon  as  possible  to  take  charge  of  our 
female  free  school. 

*^  Sept^  1823.  Wrote  to  Giovanni  Giuseppe 
Argenti,  recommending  Bishop  Hobart  to  his 
kindness ;  that  I  am  to  send  him  in  a  few  days 
the  state  of  this  Diocese,  my  health  and  fa- 
tigues during  these  fourteen  months  past  in 
the  yellow  fever  and  other  kinds  of  fevers.  .  .'' 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Bishop's  jour- 
nal is  so  brief  and  imperfect,  as  otherwise  it 
would  no  doubt  have  afforded  us  many  inter- 
esting particulars  connected  with  the  rise  and 
progress  of  Catholicity  in  this  city. 

During  his  Episcopate,  he  ordained  the  fol- 
lowing priests:  Eev.  Michael  O'Gorman,  in 
1815 ;  Eev.  Eichard  Bulger,  1820 ;  Eev.  Pat- 
rick Kelly,  1820  or  1821 ;  Eev.  Charles  Bren- 
nan,  1822  ;  Eev.  John  Shanahan,  1823 ;  Eev. 
John  Conroy,  1825.  The  Eev.  Messrs.  O'Gor- 
man and  Bulger  were  both  natives  of  the  city 
of  Kilkenny,  in  Ireland,  and  were  educated  in 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.  75 

the  college  of  that  city,  under  Dr.  Kelly,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Eichmond,  in  Virginia,  and, 
finally,  of  Waterford,  in  Ireland. 

Mr.  O'Gorman  exercised  for  some  years  the 
duties  of  a  missionary  priest  at  Albany  and  its 
vicinity,  and,  in  1819,  was  brought  to  the  city 
by  Bishop  Connolly,  to  be  his  assistant  at  the 
Cathedral.  He  was  a  zealous  priest,  and 
much  beloved  by  the  Bishop. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  Bulger  was  first  sent  on  the 
mission  to  Paterson,  in  New  Jersey,  where  he 
labored  with  great  fidelity."^  During  his  mis- 
sionary expeditions  through  various  parts  of 
the  State,  he  was  often  exposed  to  insults,  and 
underwent  many  hardships,  which  his  ardent 
zeal  and  buoyant  spirits  enabled  him  to  bear, 
not  only  with  patience,  but  cheerfulness.     A 

*  He  was  accustomed  to  teU  many  laughable  stories  of  his 
adventures.  Trudging  along  one  daj  on  foot,  carrying  a 
bundle,  containing  his  vestments  and  breviary,  under  his 
arm,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  farmer  and  his  wife  in  a  wagon. 
The  farmer  invited  Mr.  Bulger  to  ride ;  but  it  having  come 
out  in  the  course  of  the  conversation  that  he  was  a  priest,  the 
wife  declared  that  he  should  not  remain  in  the  wagon,  and 
he  was  consequently  obliged  to  get  out  and  resume  his  jour- 
ney on  foot.  It  should  be  added,  that  the  farmer  afterwards 
applied  to  Father  Bulger  for  instruction,  and  was  received 
into  the  Catholic  Church. 


76      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

large  stone  was  thrown  at  him  through  the 
window  of  his  bed-chamber,  which  nearly  cost 
him  his  life.  On  this  occasion  he  published  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  inhabitants  of  Paterson, 
which  excited  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and 
made  him  many  friends  even  amongst  those 
who  had  been  most  opposed  to  him.  He  was 
afterwards  on  the  mission  in  Albany  and 
Utica,  but  did  not  confine  his  labors  to  those 
places,  but  visited  the  scattered  Catholics 
through  all  parts  of  what  is  now  the  Diocese 
of  Albany.  The  Eev.  Mr.  Shanahan  informed 
me  that  he  had  read  letters  addressed  by  him 
at  that  time  (1828-24)  to  the  Eev.  Mr.  O'Gor- 
man,  full  of  interesting  details  in  regard  to  his 
missionary  labors,  and  the  condition  of  the 
Catholics  in  those  parts. 

Both  Mr.  O'Gorman  and  Mr.  Bulger  died 
within  eight  days  of  one  another,  at  Bishop 
Connolly's  house,  in  Broadway,  in  the  month 
of  November,  1824,  and  are  buried  on  the  left 
hand  as  you  enter  the  Cathedral,  near  the 
south  door.  The  good  Bishop,  worn  out  by 
his  labors  and  anxieties,  soon  followed  his 
faithful  associates.     He  died  at  his  residence 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOKK.  77 

in  Broadway  (No.  512)  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1825,  and  was  bnried  under  the  Cathedral, 
near  the  altar. "^ 

The  Sisters  of  Charity  were  first  sent  here 
from  Emmetsburg  at  Bishop  Connolly's  solici- 
tation, to  take  charge  of  the  Orphan  Asylum, 
which  was  incorporated  in  1817,  under  the 
title  of  the  ^*  New-York  Catholic  Benevolent 
Society."   The  first  Superior  was  Mother  Eose 

*  From  a  letter  of  Sister  Elizabeth's  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brute, 
I  find  that  he  was  taken  sick  immediately  after  his  return 
from  Mr.  O'Gorman's  funeral.  *'  I  write,"  says  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Shanahan,  in  a  letter  (Feb.  8)  to  the  same,  "  to  inform  you 
of  the  death  of  our  venerable  Bishop,  who,  after  attending 
a  funeral  this  day  week,  departed  this  life  at  seven  o'clock 
on  Sunday  evening.  He  was  taken  to  St.  Peter's  last  even- 
ing, from  which  church  the  procession  will  proceed  to  St. 
Patrick's,  where  he  will  be  buried  to-morrow  (Wednesday), 
as  near  the  altar  as  the  custom  of  the  Church  will  allow." 
When  the  new  vaults  were  built,  his  remains  were  placed 

in  the  one  appropriated  to  the  clergy. **The  remains  of 

the  pious,  worthy,  and  venerable  Bishop  Connolly  were  en- 
tombed yesterday  afternoon,  attended  by  a  larger  concourse 
of  people  than  is  usual  on  such  occasions.  For  the  last  two 
days  the  body  of  fhis  good  man  lay  in  state  in  the  central 
aisle  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  Barclay-street,  and  it  is  said 
that  not  less  than  thirty  thousand  persons  visited  this  novel 
exhibition.  Every  thing  connected  with  this  ceremony  was 
conducted  in  a  most  solemn,  appropriate  manner,  and  reflects 
much  credit  on  the  Catholics  of  our  city." — ^.  Y.  Gazette^ 
Thursday,  Feb.  10,  1825. 


78      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

White.  They  occupied  a  small  wooden  build- 
ing on  the  site  of  the  present  Orphan  Asylum, 
in  Prince-street.  Sister  Elizabeth  (Boyle)  was 
Superior  from  1822  until  1846,  when  the  new 
arrangements  were  made  in  regard  to  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity.  As  the  Catholic  population 
increased,  other  charitable  institutions  were 
committed  to  their  care:  in  1830,  the  asylum 
in  Brooklyn ;  in  1830,  the  school  attached  to 
St.  Peter's  Church,  and  St.  Joseph's  School, 
East  Broadway;  in  1833,  the  Half  Orphan 
Asylum,  at  the  corner  of  Eleventh-street  and 
Seventh  Avenue ;  and,  in  the  same  year  (1833), 
St.  Mary's  Schools. 

The  present  asylum  in  Prince-street  was 
commenced,  and  the  main  building  erected, 
in  1825 ;  the  west  wing  in  1833,  the  east  wing 
in  1834. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  79 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Vacancy  of  See — Appointmenl  of  Bishop  DuBois — Stale  of  his  Dio- 
cese— Trusleeism — College  at  Nyack— -At  Lafarg-evilie  —  New 
Churches — Cemetery — German  Mission  and  its  Founder — Emi- 
nent Clerg-ymen — Catholic  Papers — Libels  on  Catholics — Maria 
Monk — Appointment  of  a  Coadjutor — The  Bishop  resigns  the 
Administration  to  him. 

DuEiNG  the  nearly  two  years  that  the  See 
of  New-York  remained  vacant,  it  was  ad- 
ministered by  the  Very  Eev.  John  Power, 
who  had  been  appointed  Vicar  General  by 
Bishop  Connolly ;  Dr.  Power  was  born  near 
Eoscarberry,  County  Cork,  in  Ireland,  of  a 
very  respectable  family,  on  the  19th  June, 
1792.  He  was  educated  at  Maynooth,  where 
he  distinguished  himself  as  a  scholar  —  was 
for  a  time  Professor  in  the  Episcopal  Semi- 
nary at  the  Cove  of  Cork,  and  afterwards 
Curate  at  Youghal.  In  1819,  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  Trustees  of  St.  Peters,  he  came  to 


80      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

this  country  and  became  pastor  of  that  church, 
and  vicar  general  to  Bishop  Connolly.  He  was 
an  eloquent  preacher,  and  for  many  years  an 
active  and  zealous  missionary.  In  the  yellow 
fever  of  1819  and  1822,  and  the  first  cholera 
of  1832,  he  performed  faithfully  the  duties  of 
a  good  pastor.  He  was  from  the  commence- 
ment a  most  zealous  friend  of  the  Orphan 
Asylum,  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  all  that 
concerned  it,  and  preached  many  admirable 
sermons  in  its  behalf.  His  last  years  were 
harassed  by  the  most  painful  attacks  of  rheu- 
matic gout,  which  he  suffered  with  the  most 
cheerful  resignation.  The  embarrassment 
which  had  gathered  around  his  church  from 
the  extravagant  expenditure  of  the  trustees, 
saddened  his  declining  days.  He  died  on 
April  14,  1849,  and  was  buried  under  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick. 

The  Eev.  John  DuBois,  President  of  St. 
Mary's  College,  Emmetsburg,  Maryland,  was 
chosen  by  the  Holy  See  to  succeed  Bishop 
Connolly  in  the  Diocese  of  New-York. 

Bishop  DuBois  was  born  in  Paris,  on  the 
24th  August,  1764,  of  respectable  parents,  in 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOEK.  81 

the  middle  rank  of  life.  Bishop  Brute  speaks 
in  a  manuscript  note,  in  my  possession,  of  hav- 
ing seen  his  mother  at  Paris  in  1815,  "  a  vener- 
able woman,"  he  says,  ^^over  80  years  of  age, 
with  a  heart  full  of  tenderness  and  a  mind  still 
strong,  even  at  that  age.  I  was  much  impress- 
ed with  her  lively  sensibility,  when  I  spoke  to 
her  of  her  worthy  son.''  He  was  educated  at 
the  College  of  Louis  le  Grand,  which  had 
been  the  chief  college  of  the  Jesuits,  at  Paris, 
and  of  which  they  had  been  so  iniquitonsly 
deprived.  The  government,  however,  had 
endeavored  to  keep  up  its  reputation,  by  pro- 
viding the  most  eminent  professors.  At  the 
time  that  young  DuBois  entered  it,  the  Abbe 
Proyart  was  the  principal,  and  the  Abbe  de 
Lille  was  one  of  the  teachers.  Many  of  his 
fellow-students  were  afterwards  distinguished 
men,  among  others  Father  McCarthy,  the 
Abbe  Le  Grris  Duval,  the  Abbe  Leontard  who 
afterwards  founded  the  College  Stanislaus,  and 
others.  Eobespierre  and  Camille  Desmoulins, 
characters  of  a  very  different  sort,  were  also 
his  fellow-students.  He  himself  was  naturally 
of  bright  and  penetrating  intellect,  and  dis- 
4^ 


82      HISTOKY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

tinguished  himself  so  much  in  his  studies,  as 
to  attract  the  particular  attention  of  De 
Juigne,  at  that  time  Archbishop  of  Paris.  He 
made  his  theological  studies  at  the  Seminary 
of  St.  Magloire,  conducted  by  the  Oratorians, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  the  brilliancy 
of  the  ^Theses'  which  he  sustained  in  this 
seminary  and  at  the  Sorbonne.  While  yet  a 
student  he  received  a  benefice  (a  Prieure)  in 
the  vicinity  of  Paris,  and  was  ordained,  by  a 
dispensation,  when  under  age,  in  1788  or  89. 
He  was  appointed  an  assistant  priest  at  the 
Parish  Church  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  had  the 
charge  of  some  of  the  houses  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  which  were  in  that  parish,  particularly 
of  the  Hospice  de  Petits  Maisons  for  the  insane, 
a  charge  which  he  afterwards  often  spoke  of  as 
having  prepared  him,  in  the  designs  of  Provi- 
dence, for  the  responsible  duties  which  he  ex- 
ercised in  after  years  towards  the  Sisters  of 
St.  Joseph,  at  Emmetsburg.  He  distinguished 
himself  as  a  faithful  and  zealous  priest,  and 
remained  in  Paris  some  time  after  the  breaking 
out  of  the  Eevolution;  but  at  length,  being 
hindered  by  the  violence  of  the  persecution, 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YOKK.  83 

from  exercising  his  duties  as  a  priest,  he  de- 
termined to  go  to  America.  Having  obtained 
letters  from  La  Fayette,  through  the  influence 
of  the  family  of  De  Noailles,  to  several  distin- 
guished persons  in  the  United  States,  he  went 
in  disguise  to  Havre  de  Grace,  and  sailed  from 
thence  to  Norfolk,  where  he  arrived  in  August, 
1791. 

Having  received  faculties  from  Bishop  Car- 
roll, he  exercised  the  holy  ministry  in  various 
parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  He  lived  for 
some  time  with  Mr.  Monroe,  afterwards  Pre- 
sident of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  family 
of  Gov.  Lee,  of  Maryland.  After  the  death  of 
Father  Frambach,  he  took  charge  of  the  mis- 
sion of  Frederick,  in  Maryland,  of  which 
mission  he  may  be  said  in  reality  to  have  been 
the  founder.  When  he  arrived  there  he  cele- 
brated mass  in  a  large  room  which  served  as 
a  chapel,  and  afterwards  built  the  first  church. 
But  though  Frederick  was  his  head-quarters, 
he  did  not  confine  himself  to  it,  but  made  sta- 
tions throughout  all  the  surrounding  country, 
at  Montgomery,  Winchester,  Hagerstown,  and 
Emmetsburg,    every   where  manifesting    the 


84      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

same  earnest  zeal  and  indomitable  persever- 
ance: Bishop  Brute  relates  as  an  instance 
of  his  activity  and  zeal,  that  once,  after  hear- 
ing confessions  on  Saturday  evening,  he  rode 
during  the  night  to  near  Montgomery,  a  dis- 
tance of  35  to  40  miles,  to  administer  the  last 
sacraments  to  a  dying  woman,  and  was  back 
hearing  confessions  in  the  morning,  at  the 
Mountain,  singing  high  mass  and  preaching, 
without  scarcely  any  one  knowing  that  he  had 
been  absent  at  all. 

In  1808,  the  Eev.  Mr.  DuBois,  having  previ- 
ously become  a  member  of  the  Society  of  St. 
Sulpice,  in  Baltimore,  went  to  reside  at  Em- 
metsburg  and  laid  the  foundation  of  Mount 
St.  Mary's  College,  which  was  afterwards  des- 
tined to  be  the  means  of  so  much  usefulness 
to  the  Catholic  Church  in  America.  From 
this  point,  now  surrounded  by  so  many  hal- 
lowed associations  in  the  minds  of  American 
Catholics,  by  the  sound  religious  education 
imparted  to  so  many  young  men,  from  various 
parts  of  the  United  States,  "  by  the  many 
fervent  and  holy  priests,  trained  under  his 
direction,"  and  by  the  prudent  care  with  which 


ON"   THE    ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  85 

he  cherished  the  rising  institute  of  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  at  St.  Joseph's,  he  became  the 
benefactor,  not  of  any  particular  locaHty, 
but  of  the  whole  Catholic  body  throughout 
the  United  States.  When  the  history  of  St. 
Mary's  College  shall  be  written,  the  account 
of  its  first  establishment  will  present  an  in- 
stance of  unwearied  perseverance,  and  energy 
such  as  has  seldom  been  seen. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  Connolly,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
DuBois  was  called  from  the  scene  of  his 
most  beneficial  labors,  though  now  advanced 
in  years,  to  administer  the  Diocese  of  New- 
York.  As  soon  as  he  was  informed  that  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  had  directed  him  to  take 
charge  of  the  vacant  see,  he  immediately  ad- 
dressed himself  to  his  new  work,  with  the 
same  alacrity  and  earnestness,  as  when  years 
before  he  had  entered  upon  his  missionary 
labors  amongst  the  scattered  Catholic  popula- 
tion of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  He  was  con- 
secrated on  the  Sunday  before  All  Saints,"^ 
(October  29th  1836)  by  Archbishop  Marechal 

*  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  gave  him  his  cross  and 
ring. — ^  Letter  to  Propag.  de  la  Foi,  p.  451,  vol.  iv.,  Annales. 


86      HISTOEY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore^  and  took  pos- 
session of  his  new  see  on  All-Saints  Day. 

I  have  in  my  possession  a  letter  written  by 
him  a  short  time  afterwards,  to  his  friend  and 
fellow-laborer  in  Maryland,  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Brute,  in  which  he  gives  a  sad  picture  of  his 
new  field  of  labor.  A  large  and  rapidly  in- 
creasing Catholic  population,  with  only  four 
priests,"^  and  without  the  means  of  providing 
more.  The  few  churches  were  loaded  with 
debt,  and  most  of  those  who  had  the  tempo- 
ral management  of  them,  under  the  title  of 
trustees,  by  their  carelessness  and  inexpe- 
rience, only  rendered  the  matter  worse. 
Eeasonable  as  the  system  would  seem  to  be  in 
theory,  and  advantageous  as  it  might  be  in 
many  respects,  if  properly  exercised,  it  can 
hardly  be  conceived  how  far  the  greater  part 
of  these  persons  forgot  the  object  for  which 

*  The  Truth  Teller  for  the  J  6th  of  September,  1826,  con- 
tains the  following  list  of  clergy  in  the  City  of  New- York: 

oi.  -r.  ^    »   ni.      1,  \    Very  Rev.  J.  Power,  Y.  G., 

St  Peter's  Church,        j    Rev:  Mr.  Malou. 

oj.  T>  i  •  1  >   /-IT,       I       (    Rev.  T.  C.  Levins, 
St.  Patricks  Church,     j    Rey.  wilham  Taylor. 

di.  Tia       >    /^i-       1  \    Hev.  Hatton  Walsh, 

St.  Mary's  Church,        ]    Rev.  T.  Maguire. 


ON   THE   ISLAND    OF   NEW-YORK.  87 

they  were  appointed  ;  puffed  up  by  the  pride 
of  office,  and  the  influence  which  their  posi- 
tion gave  them,  they  came  to  consider  them- 
selves as  representatives  of  the  popular  inter- 
ests, and  without  any  accountability  to  the 
bishop  for  the  manner  in  which  they  managed 
the  temporal  affairs  of  the  various  churches. 
This  bad  spirit  which,  as  we  have  seen,  began 
with  the  very  commencement  of  Catholicity 
in  New- York,  had  increased  with  the  growth 
of  the  Catholic  body,  until  all  the  lavrs  of  the 
Church  were  subverted  by  them,  while  they 
still  pretended  to  yield  obedience  to  the  bishop 
and  clergy  in  spiritual  matters,  they  endeav- 
ored under  the  plea  that  their  consciences 
would  not  permit  them  to  pay  the  money  of 
the  congregation  to  persons  unacceptable  to 
them,  to  interfere  in  the  appointment  of 
clergymen,  and  to  force  such  priest  as  they 
became  attached  to,  upon  the  bishop.  I  find 
on  the  record  of  St.  Peter's  trustees,  an  in- 
stance where  an  expressed  wish  of  the  bishop 
was  unanimously  voted  down  by  the  board  of 
trustees,  and  thus  disposed  of — they  drove 
out  priests  from  serving  the  Church,  who  said 


8::^      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

things  displeasing  to  them,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Eev.  William  McNamara.  It  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  Bishop  Connolly's  days 
were  shortened  by  the  vexations  he  had  to 
suffer  from  them,  and  their  constant  interfer- 
ence with  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

When  Bishop  DuBois  arrived  here,  he 
found  the  system  established  in  its  most 
odious  form,  and  the  trustees  had  virtually 
the  entire  government  of  every  thing.  On  ac- 
count of  circumstances,  he  was  not  able  to 
extirpate  the  evil,  but  he  resisted  it  manfully. 
On  one  occasion,  when  he  had  appointed  a 
clergyman  to  the  pastorship  of  the  Cathedral, 
instead  of  another  priest,  more  acceptable  to 
the  trustees,  they  refused  to  give  any  support 
to  the  priest  thus  appointed,  and  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  having  the  appointment  withdrawn, 
while  they  were  at  the  same  time  paying  a 
salary  to  the  other  though  he  was  suspended. 
A  committee  of  the  trustees  waited  upon 
Bishop  DuBois,  and  informed  him  with  many 
expressions  of  respect  that,  having  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  congregation  as  the  represent- 
atives of  their  interest,  they  could  not  consci- 


OK  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.  89 

entiously  vote  the  bishop's  salary  unless  he 
gave  them  such  clergymen  as  were  acceptable 
to  them.  The  answer  of  the  bishop  was  one 
worthy  of  being  recorded.  He  listened  to 
their  representations  with  great  patience,  and 
then  quietly  answered,  ^'  Well,  gentlemen,  you 
may  vote  the  salary  or  not,  just  as  seems  good 
to  you,  I  do  not  need  much,  I  can  live  in  the 
basement  or  in  the  garret ;  but  whether  I  come 
up  from  the  basement,  or  down  from  the 
garret,  I  will  still  be  your  bishop."  Still  he 
was  not  in  a  situation  to  put  an  end  to  the 
evil,  and  was  hampered  and  interfered  with 
by  them  during  the  whole  course  of  his  ad- 
ministration.'^    He  set  himself,  however,  to 

*  The  trustee  system,  as  it  had  been  carried  on  in  the 
Diocese  of  New-York,  was  done  away  with  by  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Hughes,  in  1838.  Soon  after  his  appointment 
to  the  Coadj  utorship  of  the  Diocese,  the  trustees,  by  certain 
high-handed  measures  (especially  by  sending  a  constable 
into  the  Sunday-school  to  remove  one  of  the  teachers  who 
had  been  appointed  by  him),  afforded  him  an  opportunity 
of  calling  the  Catholics  to  a  sense  of  their  duties  in  this 
respect,  and  of  restoring  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  which 
had  been  so  widely  departed  from.  In  February  of  that 
year,  he  issued  a  pastoral  address  to  the  congregation  of  St. 
Patrick's,  giving  a  clear  exposition  of  the  whole  subject — of 
the  abuses  which  were  practised,  and  of  his  firm  deterraina- 


90      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

work  with  his  accustomed  energy,  and  did  all 
that  was  in  his  power  to  meet  the  difficulties 
by  which  he  was  surrounded.  Like  his  pre- 
decessor, he  was  obliged  on  account  of  the 
limited  and  inadequate  number  of  clergymen, 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  missionary  priest 
in  his  episcopal  city,  in  visiting  the  sick,  and 
hearing  confessions — all  of  which  he  did  with 
his  accustomed  zeal  and  cheerfulness.  *'I  am 
'^obliged,"  as  he  says  in  a  letter  written  to  the 
Council  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  at 
Lyons,  ^^  to  fulfil  at  the  same  time  the  duties 
of  a  bishop,  parish  priest,  and  catechist." 

Soon  after  his  establishment  in  New- York, 
he  made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  an  ac- 
count of  which  he  has  given  in  a  letter  to 
the  secretary  of  the  Association  for  the  Pro- 
pagation of  the  Faith,  and  which  was  pub- 
lished  in   their  Annals."^     He  computes  the 


tion  to  correct  them.  A  meeting  was  held  in  the  school- 
room on  the  afternoon  of  the  Sunday  on  which  the  pastoral 
was  issued,  and  he  presided.  It  was  there  determined  that  the 
whole  system  should  be  regulated  for  the  future  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  Bishop.  The 
whole  evil  may  be  said  to  have  ceased  from  that  moment. 
*  Dated  Rome,  the  16th  of  March,  1830.    An.,vol.  iv.,  p.  449. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  91 

number  of  Catholics  in  the  city  at  that  time 
at  35,000,  and  150,000  in  the  whole  diocese. 
To  supply  the  spiritual  wants  of  this  great 
multitude,  there  were  in  the  city  but  four  or 
five  priests,  and  but  four  churches:  the  old 
Church  of  St.  Peter's ;  the  new  Cathedral,  not 
yet  entirely  finished ;  the  old  Church  of  St. 
Mary's,  in  Sheriff-street,  purchased  from  the 
Presbyterians  in  1826;"^  and  Christ  Church, 
in  Ann-street,  purchased  from  the  Episcopa- 
lians in  1827.f  There  were  but  nine  edifices 
in  all  the  rest  of  his  vast  diocese,  that  could 
be  called  churches  in  any  proper  sense  of  the 
word.  It  might  be  mentioned,  as  affording 
an  idea  of  the  state  of  the  diocese  at  that  time, 
that  he  found  from  seven  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  Catholics  in  Buffalo,  instead  of  the 
sixty  or  seventy  which  he  had  been  led  to 
expect,  and  that  he  was  obliged  to  hear  the 
confessions  of  two  hundred  of  them  by  means 
of  an  interpreter.    In  the  letter  above  referred 


*  In  1829,  notice  is  given  of  an  intention  to  enlarge  St. 
Mary's  Church,  on  account  of  the  rapid  increase  of  the 
Catholic  population  in  the  upjjer  part  of  the  city. 

f  Letter  to  the  Propag.  de  la  Foi. — Annales,  vol.  iv.  p.  454. 


92      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

to,  he  expresses  his  desire  to  obtain  the  means 
of  erecting  a  hospital  and  a  college.  The 
first  design  he  was  not  able  to  realize ;  but 
soon  after  his  return  he  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  a  college  at  Nyack,  on  the  Hudson 
Eiver."^  This  institution  he  intended  to  be  on 
the  plan  of  the  one  he  had  so  successfully  found- 
ed at  Emmetsburg,  including  a  seminary  for 
ecclesiastical  students,  with  an  ordinary  colle- 
giate school,  where  the  ecclesiastical  students 
should  take  part  in  the  instruction :  a  system 
liable  to  many  objections,  but  at  the  same  time 
not  without  great  advantages,  especially  in  a 
new  diocese  and  new  country,  where  there  are 
not  sufficient  means  for  the  erection  of  a  pro- 
per ecclesiastical  seminary.f  The  good  bishop 
was,  however,  disappointed  in  the  fond  hopes 
he  had  indulged.  The  building  was  nearly 
completed  when  it  was  entirely  destroyed  by 
fire ;  and,  as  it  had  not  been  insured,  he  was 
obliged  for  the  time  to  suspend  the  undertak- 
ing.     A  portion  of  the   materials  were  ear- 

*  The  corner-stone  of  the  college  at  Njack  was  laid  on 
the  29th  of  May,  1833,  by  Bishop  DuBois. 

f  See  his  pastoral  letter  on  the  subject,  Feb.  23,  1834. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  93 

ried  to  Brooklyn,  where  Mr.  Cornelius  Heeny 
had  offered  some  lots  for  the  erection  of  a 
college ;  but,  as  he  afterwards  refused  to  give 
a  proper  deed  until  the  building  was  com- 
pleted, the  design  was  abandoned,  and  no 
other  effort  was  made  until  1888,  when  the 
estate  of  Grovemont,  in  Jefferson  County,  was 
purchased  of  Mr.  Lafarge.*^ 

Bishop  DuBois,  encouraged  by  the  success 
that  had  attended  upon  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  was  disposed  to  have  that  of  his  dio- 
cese at  a  distance  from  all  large  cities,  as  being 
in  every  respect  more  favorable  to  the  pro- 
gress and  happiness  of  the  students.  It  was 
found,  however,  that  in  the  case  of  the  insti- 

*  An  attempt  was  made,  in  1829,  to  introduce  a  higher 
order  of  Catholic  schools  into  the  city,  and  an  institution 
was  opened,  under  the  supervision  of  a  person  spoken  of  as 
Brother  Boylen,  which  seems  to  have  been  encouraged  by 
the  clergy,  and  the  more  respectable  portion  of  the  laity, 
but  which,  apparently  through  the  inefficiency  of  the  supe- 
rior, fell  through. 

In  1830,  the  Sisters  of  Charity  opened  a  pay  school  for 
female  children  at  261  Mulberry-street.  This  was  during 
the  absence  of  Bishop  DuBois  in  Europe.  The  notice  call- 
ing the  public  attention  to  it  was  signed  by  the  Very  Rev. 
John  Power,  Y.  G.,  and  by  Messrs.  Dennis  McCarthy,  Francis 
Cooper,  and  Cornelius  Heeny. 


94      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

tution  at  Lafargeville,  the  distance  was  too 
great,  and  the  access  to  it  inconvenient;  it 
was  therefore  determined  to  obtain  a  proper 
locality  for  the  purpose  nearer  to  the  City  of 
New-York,  and,  in  consequence,  the  farm 
known  as  that  of  Eose  Hill,  at  Fordham,  West- 
chester Co.,  was  some  years  after  purchased 
by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Hughes,  at  that  time 
coadjutor  and  administrator  of  the  diocese. 
Though  not  successful  at  the  time  in  carrying 
out  the  views  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart 
for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  his  diocese, 
and  the  establishment  of  an  ecclesiastical  sem- 
inary. Bishop  DuBois  continued  to  labor  with 
his  usual  zeal  for  the  establishment  and  dif- 
fusion of  religion  throughout  his  vast  diocese. 
He  made  several  visitations,  and  did  all  that 
was  in  his  power  to  provide  for  the  spiritual 
wants  of  the  people  committed  to  his  care; 
and  before  his  death  he  was  cheered  by  be- 
holding the  fruits  of  his  exertions  in  the  gra- 
dual increase  of  churches,  and  in  the  number 
of  zealous  and  devoted  priests.  In  addition 
to  the  churches  erected  in  various  parts  of  the 
diocese,  the  new  Church  of  St.  Mary's,  corner 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  95 

of  Grand  and  Eidge  streets,^  was  erected  in 
1832-33,  the  old  one  in  Sheriff-street  having 
been  destroyed  by  fire  in  1831,  as  was  sup- 
posed, the  work  of  an  incendiary. 

In  1833,  it  was  discovered  that  the  walls  of 
Christ  Church,  in  Ann-street,  were  insecure ; 
and  the  celebration  of  Divine  worship  was 
discontinued  in  it,  and  measures  were  imme- 
diately taken  for  the  erection  of  the  new 
Church  of  St.  James,  in  James-street.  It  was 
completed  in  1837,  and  blessed  by  the  Eight 
Eev.  Bishop. f 

In  18::l4,  the  new  Church  of  St.  Joseph's, 
corner  of  Barrow-street  and  Sixth  Avenue, 
was  blessed  and  opened  for  Divine  service.:}: 

In  the  same  year  it  was  found  necessary  to 
purchase  a  large  plot  for  a  cemetery,  as  the 
grounds  attached  to  the  churches  were  insuf- 
ficient,§ 

*  The  corner-stone  of  St.  Mary's  Cliurch  was  laid  on  Mon- 
day, April  30,  1832,  by  Bishop  DuBois. 

f  While  the  new  church  was  building,  the  congregation 
occupied  the  second  story  of  a  large  building,  33  Ann-street. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Sclineller  was  at  that  time  pastor. 

if  The  corner-stone  of  St.  Joseph's  Cliurch  was  laid  on  the 
10th  of  June,  1833;  blessed  in  March,  1834. 

§  The  following  notice  fixes  the  time:  *' Saturday,  De- 


96      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

In  the  same  year  (1834)  the  Grerman  Catholics 
purchased  of  John  J.  Astor  lots  for  a  church 
in  Second-street,  between  First  Avenue  and 
Arenue  A,  upon  which  the  old  Church  of  St. 
Nicholas  was  erected. 

The  first  priest  who  labored  exclusively 
amongst  the  German  Catholics  in  the  City 
of  New-York,  was  the  Eev.  John  Eaflfeiner, 
from  the  Diocese  of  Brixia  in  the  Tyrol,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  1833.  The  first 
place  where  he  officiated  in  the  City  of 
New- York,  was  in  a  small  Baptist  meeting- 
house, at  the  corner  of  Delancey  and  Pitt 
Streets,  which  they  hired  for  the  purpose. 
In  1835;  he  commenced  the  erection  of  St. 
Nicholas  Church,  in  Second-street,  and  went 


cember  21,  1833. — Notice  is  given,  that  the  new  Burying 
Ground  on  Eleventh-street,  between  Avenue  A  and  First 
Avenue,  is  prepared  to  receive  the  dead ;  the  old  one  being 
nearly  full."  The  first  Catholic  burying  ground  in  the 
City  of  New-York  was  at  St.  Peter's  Church ;  the  second, 
the  grounds  about,  and  the  vaults  under,  St.  Patrick's 
Church ;  and  the  third  on  Eleventh-street.  The  last  having 
become  full,  the  Alsop  Farm,  on  Newton  Creek,  L.  I.,  was 
purchased  for  the  purpose  of  a  cemetery.  A  portion  of  it 
was  consecrated  for  the  reception  of  the  dead,  under  the 
name  of  Calvary  Cemetery,  in  August,  1848. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.  97 

to  New  Orleans  to  collect  money  for  the  pur- 
pose."^ He  remained  seven  years  pastor  of  St. 
Nicholas,  having  for  assistant  the  Eev.  Father 
Bailies,  O.  S.  B.  During  this  period  his  labors 
were  not  confined  to  the  City  of  New- York. 
It  was  chiefly  through  his  exertions  that  the 
church  at  Macopin,f  New  Jersey,  was  erected. 
He  was  accustomed  also  to  pay  a  yearly  visit 
to  the  German  Catholics  in  the  City  of  Boston, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  there.     He  was  also  the  first 

*  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  28th  of  April,  1835, 
by  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power.  It  was  blessed  and  opened 
for  service  on  Easter  Sunday,  1836. 

f  Three  German  families  settled  at  this  place  some  years 
before  the  Revolution.  They  were  from  Baden  (Silva  Ni- 
gra) ;  their  names  were  Marion,  Schulster,  and  Stobel.  Sto- 
bel  was  a  Protestant,  but  most  of  his  descendants  became  Ca- 
tholics. They  form  still  a  little  Catholic  colony  at  that  place, 
remarkable  for  their  fervent  piety.  The  son  of  the  founder 
of  the  colony,  Marion,  who  was  four  years  old  when  he  came 
to  this  country,  lived  to  be  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  old. 
In  the  notice  of  the  blessing  of  the  church,  in  the  Truth  Tel- 
ler of  December,  1849,  he  is  spoken  of  as  being  one  hundred 
and  five  years  old,  and  in  good  health.  They  were  for  many 
years  attended  from  time  to  time  by  priests  from  Philadel- 
phia ;  amongst  others,  by  Father  Farmer,  whose  memory 
is  still  in  benediction  amongst  them.  When  'New  Jersey 
was  divided  between  the  Sees  of  Philadelphia  and  New- 
York,  they  came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  New-York. 

6 


98      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

German  priest  wlio  officiated  at  Utica,  Eo- 
chester,  and  Albany.  He  also  visited  the 
Germans  scattered  throngli  New  Jersey ;  and, 
in  1839,  lie  erected  the  old  Church  of  St.  John 
Baptist,  in  Thirtieth-street,  and  took  charge 
of  it  until  Father  Kunze  came,  in  1840.  In 
1841  he  commenced  the  erection  of  the  Church 
of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  in  Williamsburgh, 
where  he  has  since  resided. 

In  1835,  St.  Paul's  Church,  Harlem,  was 
erected,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Eev. 
Michael  Curran,  Sen. 

In  1836,  Transfiguration  Church  was  opened 
for  service  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the 
Yery  Eev.  Felix  Varela,"^  in  Chambers-street. 

*  The  Yery  Rev.  Felix  Varela,  D.  D.,  was  born  at  Ha- 
vana, on  the  Island  of  Cuba,  in  I'ZSY.  He  early  distin- 
guished himself  for  his  talents  and  zeal  for  every  good  work. 
In  1821,  he  was  sent  by  the  clergy  of  Havana,  as  their 
delegate,  to  the  Spanish  Cortes,  and,  after  the  abrogation  of 
the  Constitution  by  Ferdinand,  came  to  this  country  in  1828. 
He  landed  at  Philadelphia;  but  the  next  year  (1824)  he 
came  to  New- York,  and,  having  received  faculties  from 
Bishop  DuBois,  he  entered  upon  that  career  of  charity  and 
self-devotion  which  has  made  his  name  one  of  benediction 
in  the  City  of  New- York.  He  was  at  first  assistant  at  St. 
Peter's;  then  pastor  of  Christ  Church,  in  Ann-street;  and 
afterwards  of  Transfiguration  Church,  in  Chambers-street. 


ON   THE  ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.  99 

In  the  same  year  (1836),  the  old  Church  of  St. 
Peter's  having  exhibited  evidence  of  decay, 
it  was  determined  to  erect  a  new  church. 
Mass  was  celebrated  in  the  old  church  for  the 
last  time  on  the  28th  of  August.  The  corner- 
stone of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  by  Bishop 
DuBois,  on  the  26th  of  October.  On  the  first 
Sunday  of  September,  1837,  mass  was  cele- 
brated in  the  basement ;  and  on  the  28th  of 
February,  1838,  the  church  itself  was  blessed 
and  opened  for  Divine  service  by  the  Et.  Eev. 

He  died  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  where  he  had  gone  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  on  the  18th  of  February,  1853.  See  an 
extended  notice  of  his  life  and  labors  in  the  Freeman's  Jour- 
nal j  March  19,  1863. 

^he  name  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Mupietti  is  associated 
with  that  of  Father  Varela  in  the  minds  of  the  Catholics  of 
New-York.  Father  Mupietti,  a  native  of  Italy,  was  of  the 
Order  of  the  Carthusians,  and  had  been,  I  believe,  on  the 
mission  in  Turkey.  Passing  through  New-York  on  his  way 
to  New  Orleans,  he  was  prevailed  upon  by  Father  Varela 
to  remain  and  assist  him  at  Transfiguration  Church.  Though 
afflicted  with  an  oppressive  and  incurable  disease,  he  labored 
here  for  five  years  with  a  zeal  which  no  suffering  could 
abate.  His  day  was  divided  between  the  confessional  and 
the  bedsides  of  the  sick;  and  all  flocked  to  him  for  advice 
and  direction.  He  died  the  death  of  the  just  on  the  21st  of 
March,  1846;  and  the  immense  crowds  of  people  who  fol- 
lowed his  body  to  the  grave,  testified  to  the  impression 
which  his  virtues  had  made  upon  every  heart. 


100      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bisliop  Hughes.  During  this  time,  also,  sev- 
eral churches  were  erected  in  New  Jersey,  on 
Long  Island,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese. 
This  slow  but  sure  progress  of  the  Church 
was  not  made  without  much  opposition.  The 
Kev.  Dr.  Yarela,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Power,  and  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Schneller,  did  good  service  to  the 
Church,  by  many  able  controversial  articles, 
defending  its  doctrines  and  principles  against 
the  bitter  attacks  of  the  notorious  Dr.  Brown- 
lee  and  others.^     Amongst  the  many  unprin- 

*  Most  of  these  articles  appeared  in  the  pages  of  the  New- 
York  Weekly  Register  and  Catholic  Diary,  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Schneller.  It  was  commenced  on  tke  5th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1833.  In  October,  1834,  the  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Levins 
was  associated  with  him  in  the  editorship.  It  was  discon- 
tinued in  October,  1836.  The  first  number  of  the  Truth 
Teller  was  published  on  the  2d  of  April,  1825,  under  the 
editorial  charge  of  Mr.  William  Denman.  Many  other 
journals  and  periodicals,  intended  for  the  explanation  and 
defence  of  Catholic  principles,  were  started,  but  had  gen- 
erally a  comparatively  short  existence.  The  New-York 
Catholic  Register  was  commenced  in  1839;  the  New- York 
Freeman's  Journal  in  1840.  In  January,  1841,  the  two 
papers  were  united  under  the  title  of  the  "New- York 
Freeman's  Journal  and  Catholic  Register."  It  was  first 
edited  by  James  W.  AVhite,  Esq. ;  afterwards  by  Mr.  Eu- 
gene Casserly,  John  T.  Devereaux,  Esq.,  <fec.  In  1842,  it 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes ;  and, 
in  1847,  was  sold  by  him  to  Mr.  J.  A.  M'Master,  its  present 
proprietor  and  editor. 


ON    THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOEK.        101 

cipled  efforts  made  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
the  Catholic  Church  at  this  time,  was  the  pub- 
lication of  false  and  impure  books,  pretending 
to  disclose  the  secrets  of  monasteries  and  con- 
vents (Louise,  or  the  Canadian ;  Eebecca  Eeid's 
ISTarrative,  &c.).  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
was  that  printed  under  the  title  of  ^' Awful 
Disclosures  by  Maria  Monk,"  in  1836.  A 
more  infamous  attempt  was  probably  never 
made  to  bring  discredit  on  the  Catholic 
Church.  It  was  published  with  the  approba- 
tion and  assistance  of  many  Protestant  minis- 
ters; but  was  denounced  by  several  of  the 
secular  journals  as  a  libelous  and  infamous 
book  from  the  very  outset.  For  a  while  it 
had  a  very  large  circulation ;  and,  being  be- 
lieved by  the  ignorant  and  prejudiced,  ex- 
cited a  strong  feeling  of  hostility  against  the 
Church.  In  attempting,  however,  to  do  their 
work  thoroughly,  its  authors  rather  over-did 
it.  Its  charges  were  so  atrocious  that  they 
had  the  effect  of  exciting  suspicion  of  untruth 
even  in  the  minds  of  prejudiced  persons.  The 
authorities  of  Montreal,  and  even  the  Protes- 
tant clergy  of  the  city,  denounced  the  work 


102      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

as  untrue  soon  after  it  was  published ;  but  the 
full  and  complete  exposure  of  the  imposture 
was  made  by  Colonel  Stone,  editor  of  the 
New-York  Commercial  Advertiser.^  Deter- 
mined to  investigate  the  matter  thoroughly, 
he  went  to  Montreal,  and  having  been  per- 
mitted to  examine  every  portion  of  the  Hotel 
Dieu,  the  pretended  scene  of  the  enormities 
described  in  the  book,  he  became  convinced 
that  the  author  of  it  was  not  even  acquainted 
with  the  locality  she  pretended  to  describe. 
Assured  that  the  whole  was  an  entire  and 
base  forgery,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce 
it  as  such ;  and,  in  the  course  of  his  exposure, 
gave  good  evidence  that  some  of  the  reverend 
persons  connected  with  it  had  known  that  it 
was  an  entire  fabrication  from  the  commence- 


*  I  suppose  that  the  petition  presented  by  Mr.  Clay  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  1837,  from  sundry  inhabitants 
of  Sullivan  County,  in  this  State,  must  have  been  one  of  the 
fruits  of  this  precious  forgery.  The  petitioners  pray  Con- 
gress to  deny  the  privilege  of  citizenship  to  Roman  Catholics, 
or,  in  other  words,  to  exclude  persons  of  that  creed  from 
exercising  the  elective  franchise,  unless  they  should  renounce 
their  religion  :  also,  to  appoint  sheriffs  and  officers  to  inspect 
monasteries  and  convents,  and  other  religious  establishments 
of  Catliolics. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.        103 

merit:  in  fact,  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  for 
the  lies  were  so  palpable,  that,  as  the  Courier 
and  Enquirer  remarked  at  the  time,  ^'  to  read  it 
would  most  thoroughly  remove  any  lingering 
doubt  that  may  perchance  remain  on  the 
minds  of  a  few,  as  to  the  fathomless  falsehood 
of  this  shameless  imposture."* 

In  1837,  the  Eev.  John  Hughes,  pastor  of 
St.  John's  Church,  Philadelphia,  was  appoint- 
ed by  the  Holy  See  as  Coadjutor  of  New- York. 
He  was  consecrated  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
New-York,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1838,  by 
the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  DuBois,  assisted  by  the 
Et.  Eev.  F.  P.  Kenrick,  Bishop  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  Et.  Eev.  Benedict  Fenwick, 
Bishop  of  Boston.  He  immediately  entered 
upon  the  active  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
office,  under  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Basileopolis, 
in  partibus  infidelium. 

Bishop  DuBois's  health  had  been  gradually 
failing;    and,  in  about  a  fortnight  after  the 


*  I  remember  seeing  in  the  police  reports  of  1849,  that 
the  pretended  authoress  was  taken  up  in  the  Five  Points  for 
stealing,  and  placed  in  the  Tombs.  She  died  shortly  after- 
wards, I  believe,  on  Blackwell's  Island. 


104      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

consecration  of  his  coadjutoij  he  was  attacked 
by  a  partial  paralysis,  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered.^ 

*  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  DuBois  died  at  his  residence  in 
Mulberry -street,  on  Tuesday,  the  20th  of  December,  1842. 
After  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Hughes  as  administrator, 
his  health  did  not  permit  him  to  take  any  active  part  in  the 
government  of  the  Diocese ;  but  his  interest  in  every  thing 
that  was  contemplated  or  done  for  the  advancement  of  reli- 
gion remained  unabated  amidst  all  his  infirmities.  He  was 
buried  at  his  own  request  under  the  pavement  immediately 
in  front  of  the  main  entrance  to  the  Cathedral. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.        105 


CHAPTER  V. 

Administration  of  Bishop  Hughes — St.  John's  College  organized — 
Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart — New  Churches — Church  for  the 
French — Fathers  of  Mercy — German  Mission  of  the  Redemptor- 
ists — The  School  Question — Diocesan  Synod — Church  Debts, 
and  attempts  to  relieve  them.- 

In  1839,  Bishop  Hughes  was  appointed  by 
the  Holy  See  Administrator  of  the  Diocese. 
In  the  previous  part  of  the  same  year  he  had 
purchased  the  property  at  Fordham,  with  the 
intention  of  erecting  there  a  college  and  sem- 
inary ;  and  soon  after  being  named  adminis- 
trator he  made  a  voyage  to  Europe,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  persons  and  means  to 
enable  him  the  more  efficiently  to  carry  out 
his  plans  for  the  good  of  religion.  He  re- 
turned in  the  summer  of  the  following  year, 
after  an  absence  of  nine  mxonths. 

One  of  the  first  objects  to  which  he  devoted 
his  attention  after  his  return,  was  the  organi- 
se 


106      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

zation  of  the  college  at  Fordham.  The  un- 
finished mansion  on  the  property  was  com- 
pleted at  a  considerable  expense,  and  put  in  a 
suitable  order  for  the  purpose.^  The  Eev. 
John  M'Closkey,  at  that  time  pastor  of  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  New- York,  was  appointed 
President,  and  an  efficient  Faculty  was  pro- 
vided to  commence  at  once  a  complete  system 
of  instruction.  The  success  of  the  institution 
was  such  as  fully  to  justify  the  undertaking.f 


*  It  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  students  on  the  24th 
of  June,  1841,  under  the  title  of  St.  John  s  College,  Fordham, 
though  for  some  time  it  was  known  as  Rose  Hill  College, 
from  the  name  of  the  estate. 

f  In  1842,  the  Rev.  Mr.  M'Closkey  resumed  his  pastoral 
duties  at  St.  Joseph's,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Ambrose 
Manahan,  D.  D.,  who  was  in  turn  succeeded  bj  the  Rev.  John 
Harlej.  Mr.  Harley  was  eminently  fitted  for  the  important 
post  to  which  he  had  been  called.  Though  young  in  years, 
he  possessed  those  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which  inspire 
respect  and  affection ;  and  by  the  steady  and  efficient  system 
of  study  and  discipline  which  he  introduced,  placed  the  in- 
stitution at  once  upon  a  solid  foundation.  In  the  midst, 
howevei',  of  his  useful  and  successful  labors,  he  was  seized 
by  the  fatal  disease  which  eventually  de[)rived  him  of 
life.  During  the  time  of  his  absence  in  Europe,  where  he 
accompanied  the  Bishop  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  health,  the 
affairs  of  the  college  were  administei-ed  by  the  Rev.  J.  R. 
Bayley,  the  vice-president.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  determined,  in  order  to  obtain  a  more  permanent 


ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  NEW- YORK.        107 

One  of  the  results  of  the  Bishop's  visit  to  Eu- 
rope was  the  introduction  and  estabhshment 
of  the  Community  of  the  Sacred  Heart  in  the 
diocese.  In  the  same  summer  (1841)  that  the 
college  was  opened  at  Fordham,  they  com- 
menced a  school  for  the  education  of  young 
ladies  in  the  building  at  the  corner  of  Houston 
and  Mulberry  streets,  now  occupied  by  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy.  The  first  Superior  of  the 
Community  in  this  diocese  was  Madame  de 
Galitzin,  of  the  illustrious  Eussian  family  of 
that  name  ;  the  second  was  Madame  Bathilde ; 
and  the  third  and  present  Superior,  Madame 
Hardey. 

In  1844,  they  purchased  the  property  of  the 
late  Colonel  Gibbs,  at  Astoria,  and  removed 


administration,  to  pass  the  college  over  to  the  Jesuit  Fa- 
thers j  and  in  the  autumn  of  1846,  a  number  of  them  who 
had  previously  been  employed  in  the  Diocese  of  Louisville, 
arrived  and  took  charge  of  it.  The  State  Legislature  had 
granted  a  charter  to  the  institution,  on  the  I7th  of  March, 
1845,  conferring  university  privileges  upon  it.  The  first 
Commencement  was  held  for  conferring  degrees  on  the  15th 
of  July,  1845 ;  after  which  the  college  was  committed  to  the 
Jesuits.  The  Rev.  Auguste  Thebaud  was  the  first  president 
under  the  society.  In  1851  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
John  Larkin,  the  present  president. 


108      HISTOEY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHUECH 

to  that  place ;  but  finding  tliat  it  was  rather 
inconveniently  situated  for  that  purpose,  they 
purchased,  in  1846,  the  estate  of  the  late  Jacob 
Lorillard,  at  Manhattanville,  and  fixed  their 
residence  there  in  January,  1847.  They  have 
besides  a  day-school  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
The  number  of  members  of  the  Community  at 
first  was  seven, — two  of  whom  came  from 
Louisiana,  two  from  France,  and  three  from 
Missouri.  The  present  number  (1853)  is 
twenty-six  choir  religious,  twenty  choir  no- 
vices, and  twenty  coadjuting  or  lay  sisters. 
They  have  since  established  a  house  at  Buffalo, 
and  another  at  Albany.  They  have  been 
most  successful  in  the  important  object  to 
which  they  devote  their  labors :  while  they 
give  the  most  complete  and  finished  education 
in  all  those  accomplishments  which  adorn  the 
female  character,  they  pay  particular  attention 
to  the  still  more  important  matter  of  religious 
culture.  They  also  conduct  gratuitous  schools 
for  the  poor  children  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
establishments. 

In  1810,  the  Church  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
erected  by  the  Germans  on  Thirtieth-street, 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.        109 

between  tlie  Seventh,   and  Eighth  Avenues, 
was  blessed  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Hughes. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1841,  he  also  blessed 
the  new  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
on  the  corner  of  Fiftieth-street  and  the  Fifth 
Avenue. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  1842,  the  Bishop 
blessed  the  addition  which  had  been  made  to 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  forming  the  new  sanc- 
tuary and  sacristies. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1842,  Carroll  Hall, 
which  had  become  somewhat  celebrated  on 
account  of  the  meetings  held  there  in  regard 
to  the  School  Question,  was  converted  into  a 
church,  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Andrew, 
and  blessed  by  the  Bishop. 

In  1841-42,  the  holy  and  zealous  Bishop  of 
Nancy,  in  France,  Monseigneur  the  Count 
Forbin  Janson,  being  on  a  visit  to  this  coun- 
try, interested  himself  in  the  erection  of  a 
church  for  the  French  population  in  New- 
York  ;  and,  chiefl}^  owing  to  his  exertions, 
the  Church  of  St.  Vincent  of  Paul,  in  Canal- 
street,  was  commenced.  Mr.  Louis  B.  Binsse, 
of  New- York,  did  much  by  his  zealous  exer- 


110      HISTORY  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

tions  to  bring  the  work  to  a  successful  com- 
pletion. It  was  blessed  by  Bishop  Hughes  on 
Sunday,  the  21st  of  August,  1842.  The  Eev. 
M.  Deydier,  a  worthy  priest  of  the  Diocese  of 
Vincennes,  who  happened  to  be  in  New- York 
at  that  time,  seeking  aid  for  his  own  mission 
at  the  West,  took  care  of  the  parish  provision- 
ally. It  was  afterwards  placed  under  the  pas- 
toral charge  of  the  Fathers  of  Mercy,  who, 
under  the  supervision  of  their  superior,  the 
Eev.  Annet  Lafont,  have  since  discharged 
the  duties  of  the  church.  It  was  enlarged  and 
beautified  in  1850. 

In  the  same  year  (1842)  the  Eev.  Grabriel 
Eumpler  was  sent  from  Baltimore,  by  the 
Eev.  Father  Alexander,  Superior  of  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Eedemptorists,  at  the  request  of 
the  Bishop,  to  take  charge  of  the  German 
church  in  Second-street ;  but  the  trustees  be- 
ing unwilling  to  give  the  Society  such  control 
over  the  aifairs  of  the  church  as  was  necessary 
for  the  carrying  out  of  its  objects,  the  Eev. 
Father  Eumpler  purchased,  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Bishop,  twelve  lots  in  Third-street, 
between  Avenues  A  and  B,  upon  which  they 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.        Ill 

erected  a  convent,  schools,  and  the  temporary 
Church  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  which 
has  given  place  in  the  present  year  (1853)  to 
the  noble  church  of  the  same  name,  and  which 
was  solemnly  consecrated  by  the  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop,  on  the  28th  of  November,  1852. 
The  Rev.  Ambrose  Buchmayer,  from  the 
Diocese  of  Strigonia,  in  Hungary,  of  the 
Order  of  the  Capuchins,  took  charge  of  St, 
Nicholas  when  Father  Rumpler  left  it ;  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev.  Father  Felicien 
KreberS;  of  the  same  order,  has  since  admin- 
istered the  affairs  of  the  church.  In  1848, 
the  old  Church  of  St.  Nicholas  was  replaced 
by  the  present  handsome  edifice. 

The  year  18il  was  made  famous  in  the 
history  of  Catholicity  in  New- York,  by  the 
agitation  of  the  ^'School  question,"  as  it  was 
called.  Previous  to  that  time,  the  public  in- 
struction had  been  in  the  hands  of  a  close 
corporation,  under  the  title  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  which  administered  and  dis- 
tributed according  to  its  own  good  pleasure, 
the  funds  provided  by  the  city  for  the  pur- 
pose of  education.     The  books  used  in  these 


112      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

schools  abounded  with  the  usual  stereotyped 
falsehoods  against  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
the  most  vexatious  and  open  system  of  pro- 
selytism   was  carried  on  in  them.     The  evil 
became,  finally,  so  great,  that  no  alternative 
was  left  for  Catholic  parents,  but  either   to 
prevent    their   children    from    attending  the 
schools  at  all,  or  to  cause  an  entire  change 
to  be  made  in  the  system ;  under  the  advice 
and  active  leadership  of  the  Bishop,  a  system- 
atic attempt  was  made  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  community  and  public  authorities  to  the 
subject,  and  after  a  severe  contest  it  resulted 
in  the  establishment  of  the  present  Common 
School  system.     The  Bishop  delivered   two 
lectures  upon  the  subject,  in  Carroll  Hall,  but 
one  of  the  most  triumphant  defences  of  the 
principle  contended  for  by  the  Catholics,  w^as 
made  by  him  in  a  speech  before  the  Common 
Council  of  New- York,  in  which  he  replied  to 
the  arguments  of  Messrs.  Ketchum  and  Sedg- 
wick, who  had  been  employed  by  the  Public 
School  Society  as  their  counsel,  and  also  to  Dr. 
Bond,  Dr.  Spring,  and  others  who  had  volun- 
teered in  its  support.     Experience  has  since 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.        113 

shown,  however,  that  the  new  system,  though 
administered  with  as  much  impartiality  and 
fairness,  as  could  be  expected  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, is  one,  which,  as  excluding  all 
religious  instruction,  is  most  fatal  to  the  mo- 
rals and  religious  principles  of  our  children, 
and  make  it  evident  that  our  only  resource  is 
to  establish  schools  of  our  own,  where  sound 
religious  knowledge  shall  be  imparted  at  the 
same  time  with  secular  instruction.  If  we 
needed  any  evidence  upon  the  matter,  it 
would  be  found  in  the  conduct  and  behavior 
of  those  of  our  children  who  are  educated 
under  the  Christian  Brothers,  when  contrasted 
with  those  who  are  exposed  to  the  pernicious 
influences  of  a  public  school. 

The  same  year  (1842)  was  made  an  import- 
ant one  as  regards  the  Catholic  interest  of  this 
diocese,  by  the  holding  of  the  first  Diocesan 
Synod.  By  a  circular  letter,  dated  July  28th, 
1842,  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  were  convoked 
to  meet  at  St.  John's  College,  and,  after  a 
spiritual  retreat  of  several  days,  conducted 
by  the  Eev.  Father  M'Elroy,  the  synod  was 
opened  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  on  the  15th 


114      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Sunday  after  Pentecost  (28tli  August,  1842). 
On  Monday  they  returned  to  the  college,  and 
continued  in  session  three  days.  Twenty- 
three  decrees  were  put  forth  in  regard  to 
various  matters  of  discipline,  and  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments;  many  practices, 
such  as  the  baptism  of  infants  in  private 
houses,  and  others  of  a  similar  nature,  which 
had  been  permitted  on  account  of  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  times,  were  entirely  forbidden. 
The  most  strict  regulations  were  made  in  re- 
gard to  secret  societies,  and  the  manner  of 
holding  and  administering  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty. The  regulations  were  enforced  by  the 
Bishop  in  a  pastoral  letter  dated  the  8th  of 
September,  1842.  The  Bishop's  pastoral,  es- 
pecially in  reference  to  the  points  regarding 
secret  societies  and  church  property,  was  at- 
tacked by  the  various  sectarian  and  secular 
newspapers,  in  the  most  violent  manner,  but 
the  enforcement  of  the  decrees  has  been  attend- 
ed by  the  most  happy  effects  upon  the  whole 
Catholic  body,  especially  in  regard  to  these 
particular  points. 

One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  pro- 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.        115 

gress  of  the  Churcti  in  this  city  was  the  im- 
mense amount  of  debt  hanging  over  the 
churches."^  The  increase  in  the  number  of  the 


*  The  history  of  St.  Peter's  Church  affords  an  instance  of 
mismanagement  which  should  serve  as  a  warning  to  all 
ecclesiastical  corporations  for  the  future.  When  the  new 
church  was  erected  in  1836-8,  most  of  the  funds  for  the 
purpose  were  obtained  from  deposits  made  with  the  trustees, 
for  which  notes,  bearing  an  interest  of  six  and  seven  per 
cent.,  were  issued.  The  funds  thus  received  were  spent  in 
the  most  extravagant  manner ;  and  when  the  trustees  made 
an  assignment  in  September,  1844,  on  account  of  their 
inability  to  meet  their  engagements,  the  debt  of  the  church 
amounted  to  $134,381  —  1100,381  of  which  consisted  of 
these  notes.  The  assignees  sold  the  church,  which  was 
purchased  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop ;  but  they  were  hin- 
dered from  settling  the  affairs  of  the  corporation  for  many 
years,  on  account  of  suits  brought  against  them  by  note- 
holders, contesting  the  validity  of  the  assignment.  The 
Court  of  Appeals  confirmed  the  assignment  in  1849.  The 
original  assignment  was  made  to  the  Rev.  Drs.  Powers  and 
Pise ;  but  Dr.  Powers  having  died  in  the  meanwhile,  and 
Dr.  Pise  having  resigned,  the  Supreme  Court  appointed  the 
Rev.  J.  R.  Bayley  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Nicholson  as  new  assignees. 
The  church  having  come  into  the  possession  of  the  Most 
Rev.  Archbishop  by  the  confirmation  of  the  assignment,  he 
immediately  took  measures  to  have  the  debt  paid  off.  The 
Rev.  William  Quinn,  who  was  appointed  to  the  pastorship 
of  the  church,  exei'ted  himself  for  that  purpose,  and  a  con- 
siderable sum  of  money  was  raised  by  the  zeal  of  the  con- 
gregation, towards  the  liquidation  of  the  more  pressing 
demands.  The  new  assignees  were  enabled,  by  the  rise  in 
the  value  of  property,  to  sell  certain  lots  belonging  to  the 


116      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Catholics  was  so  great,  and  they  at  the  same 
time  so  poor,  that  in  order  to  provide  them 
with  places  to  worship  God  in,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  borrow  large  sums  of  money  at  a 
ruinous  interest ;  the  evil  was  increased  by 
the  mismanagement  of  the  trustees,  so  that  at 
the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  all  the  church 
edifices  in  the  city  were  mortgaged  or  encum- 
bered with  debt,  about  to  their  full  value. 
As  soon  as  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Hughes  was 
named  administrator  of  the  diocese,  he  turned 
his-  attention  to  the  subject,  and  in  1841  a 
vigorous  effort  was  made,  under  his  direction, 
to  correct;  and  as  far  as  possible  to  remedy  the 
evil.  With  this  view  he  organized  the  Church 
Debt  Association.  The  first  meeting  for  the 
purpose  was  held  in  Carroll  Hall,  on  the  8d  of 
May,  1841,  when  the  Bishop  proposed  his  plan, 
which  was  promptly  taken  up.  A  system  of 
collection  by  district  was  adopted.  During 
the  single  year  it  continued  in  operation,  about 

church  to  great  advantage;  and,  in  the  present  year  (1853), 
the  whole  face  of  the  notes  have  been  paid  off.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  give  any  idea  of  the  heart-burnings  and 
bad  feeling  engendered  by  this  mismanagement  of  the  trus- 
tees, or  the  injury  done  by  it  to  religion. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.        117 

$17,000"^  was  collected  and  paid  out.  If  the 
system  could  have  been  carried  out  as  con- 
templated, the  most  beneficial  effects  would 
have  followed ;  but  the  churches  which  stood 
the  most  in  need  of  its  help  were  the  most 
negligent  in  co-operating  in  the  work,  and  the 
others  were  not  disposed  to  take  all  the  work 
■upon  themselves.  The  chief  hindrance,  how- 
ever, to  the  success  of  the  undertaking,  was 
the  immense  debt  upon  St.  Peter's  Church, 
which  made  it  a  complete  mill-stone  about  the 
neck  of  any  undertaking  of  a  similar  nature. 
The  Bishop  also  made  an  effort,  when  in  Bel- 
gium in  1843,  to  obtain  a  loan  sufficient  to 
take  up  all  the  mortgages,  and  at  a  lower  rate 
of  interest  than  they  were  obliged  to  pay  in 
this  city.  His  idea  was  to  consolidate  the 
church  property  in  New-York,  raise  a  loan 
upon  it  in  Belgium  sufficient  to  pay  off  the 
mortgages,  and,  by  means  of  the  Church 
Debt  Association  and  income  of  churches,  to 
pay  the  interest,  and  gradually,  by  means  of  a 
sinking  fund,  pay  the  principal.  He  was  not 
able,  however,  to  carry  out  his  plan. 

*  $16,997  924c.     See  report  in  Freeman's  Journal,  1842. 


118      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  system  adopted  at  the  Diocesan  Synod, 
and  carried  out  by  liim  in  his  ^'Eules  for  the 
Administration  of  Churches  without  Trustees," 
issued  in  1845,  has  had  great  success.  A  stop 
was  put  to  all  careless  and  useless  expenditure 
— the  plan  of  raising  money  by  deposits  was 
discouraged — regular  reports  of  the  condition 
of  churches  were  made  each  year — and  the 
result  has  been,  that  all  the  Catholic  Churches 
in  the  diocese  are  gradually  freeing  themselves 
from  debt,  and  are  able  to  extend  their  use- 
fulness in  the  establishment  and  support  of 
parochial  schools,  and  other  ways. 


ON  THE   ISLAND   OF  NEW- YORK.       119 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Bishop  M'Closkey  appointed  Coadjutor — Native  Excitement — Sis= 
ters  of  Mercy — Tlieir  House  of  Protection — Sisters  of  Charity — 
The  Diocese  divided — New-York  an  Archiepiscopal  See — New 
Churches— College  of  St.  Francis  Xavier — Present  State  of  Ca- 
tholicity in  the  City. 

The  exigencies  of  the  diocese  requiring  it 
an  assistant,  the  Eev.  John  M^Closkey,  Pastor 
of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  was,  in  1844,  created 
Bishop  of  Axiern,  in  partibus  infidelium,  and 
Coadjutor  of  New- York.  He  was  consecrated 
on  the  10th  March,  1844,  at  the  same  time  with 
the  Eev.  William  Quarter,  appointed  Bishop  of 
Chicago,  Illinois,  and  the  Eev.  Andrew  Byrne, 
appointed  Bishop  of  Little  Eock,  in  Arkan- 
sas. The  ceremony  was  performed  in  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop 
Hughes,  assisted  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Fen- 
wick,  of  Boston,    and  the   Et.  Eev.  Bishop 


120      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Whelan,  then  of  Eichmond,  and  now  of 
Wheeling,  Yirginia.  Bishop  M'Closkey  was 
born  in  Brooklyn,  Long  Island,  and  educated 
at  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  and  in  Eome. 
He  was  ordained  priest  on  the  12th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1834,  by  Bishop  DuBois,  was  the  first 
President  of  St.  John's  College,  and  for  many 
years  Pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  Church.  In  1850 
he  was  transferred  to  the  newly  erected  See 
of  Albany. 

The  bad  spirit  which  in  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia resulted  in  the  destruction  of  several 
Catholic  Churches,  and  many  scenes  of  vio- 
lence, in  1844,  also  extended  itself  somewhat 
to  New-York.  For  several  weeks  much  ex- 
citement existed,  and  a  spark  would  at  any 
time  have  set  the  whole  in  a  blaze.  The  good 
conduct  and  forbearance  of  the  Catholic  body, 
however,  averted  the  evil,  and  prevented  any 
outbreak.  On  this  occasion  the  bishop  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Mr.  Harper,  mayor  of  the 
city,  and  another  to  Col.  Stone,  editor  of  the 
Commercial  Advertiser,  ^'  On  the  moral  causes 
which  have  produced  the  evil  spirit  of  the 
times."     These  letters  had  a  very  happy  effect 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YOKK.        121 

upon  the  public  mind,  and  materially  strength- 
ened the  position  of  the  Catholics  throughout 
the  United  States.  They  were  republished 
by  the  secular  press  throughout  the  country, 
and  tended,  by  their  straightforward  and  cou- 
rageous tone,  and  successful  vindication  of 
Catholics  upon  those  points  on  which  they 
were  assailed,  to  allay  very  much  the  bitter 
feelings  which  had  been  excited. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  Catholics  made  the  want  of  priests  more 
evident ;  and  the  bishop  determined  to  erect 
an  Ecclesiastical  Seminary,  where  such  young- 
men  as  wished  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
service  of  God  might  be  trained  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal learning.  The  corner-stone  of  the  new 
edifice  which  was  erected  on  a  portion  of  the 
college  property,  was  laid  on  the  27th  March, 
1845,  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  M'Closkey,  Co- 
adjutor Bishop.  The  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Hughes 
delivered  an  address  on  the  occasion,  which 
contained  many  interesting  facts  connected 
with  the  rise  and  progress  of  Catholicity  in 
the  diocese.  The  faithful  Catholics  through- 
out the  diocese  contributed  generously  to  the. 

6 


122      HISTORY   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

new  work,  and  the  present  handsome  edifice 
and  chapel  were  erected  in  the  course  of  the 
summer  at  a  cost  of  about  forty  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1846,  the  diocese  received  a  most  impor- 
tant addition  to  its  charitable  institutions  in 
the  Order  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy.  In  the 
spring  of  that  year,  six  choir  religious,  from 
Dubhn,^  came  to  this  country,  and  immedi- 
ately entered  upon  the  faithful  discharge  of 
those  corporal  works  of  mercy — the  visitation 
of  the  sick,  and  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant 
— for  which  their  institute  was  formed.  They 
were  first  located  in  West  Washington  Place, 
but  the  building  not  being  sufficiently  large 
for  the  purpose  of  a  House  of  Protection,  the 
property  at  the  corner  of  Houston  and  Mul- 
berry streets  was  purchased  in  1848,  and,  in 
1849,  a  large  and  commodious  House  of  Pro- 
tection was  built,  in  addition  to  the  building 
already  upon  it.f     A  generous   subscription 


*  The  Archbishop  was  led  to  seek  for  them  by  the  desti- 
tution and  consequent  danger,  ahke  to  faith  and  morals,  to 
which  so  many  poor  girls  are  exposed  in  a  large  city. 

f  The  establishment  has  cost  about  r$60,000. 


ON   THE    ISLAND   OF  NEW-YORK.        123 

was  made  by  the  Catholics  of  the  city  towards 
defraying  the  expense. 

The  good  done  by  this  devoted  body  of 
women  is  incalculable.  The  register  of  the 
institution  shows  that,  up  to  the  1st  of  March, 
1853,  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  six- 
ty-five poor  girls  were  placed  in  respectable 
situations,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  of  the  most  destitute  of  whom  had  been 
protected  in  the  institution.  Many  hundred 
sick  persons  had  been  visited,  consoled  and 
instructed,  and,  in  a  large  number  of  cases, 
their  temporal  wants  relieved.  The  sisters 
also  visit  the  city  prisons  twice  a  week ;  they 
also  have  a  free  school  for  poor  children,  where 
about  two  hundred  (as  many  as  their  limited 
space  will  allow)  are  educated.  They  also 
give  instruction  in  their  religious  duties  to  a 
large  number  of  persons  every  day.  The 
community  now  numbers  about  thirty  mem- 
bers, including  lay  sisters. 

In  1846,  it  having  been  found  very  in- 
convenient to  carry  out  certain  regulations 
made  by  the  Superiors  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  at  Emmetsburg,  in  reference  to  the 


,124      HISTORY   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

administration  of  the  institutions  under  their 
care,  the  Council  of  the  community  deter- 
mined to  recall  the  sisters,  with  the  permis- 
sion, however,  to  such  as  might  prefer  to 
remain  in  the  diocese  to  do  so,  and  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  community,  devoted  to  the  same 
holy  object,  and  living  under  the  same  rule. 
The  Yery  Eev.  Superior  of  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Joseph's,  at  Emmetsburg,  addressed  a  circular 
to  the  sisters  in  the  Diocese  of  New- York,  dis- 
pensing such  as  were  disposed  to  remain  from 
the  vow  of  obedience,  and  granting  the  neces- 
sary permission.  Of  the  fifty  sisters  at  that  time 
in  the  city,  thirty-two  remained,  and  continued 
to  carry  on  the  various  institutions  under  their 
care  in  the  same  manner  as  before.  An  elec- 
tion was  held  on  the  30th  of  December,  1846, 
for  the  purpose  of  choosing  the  proper  officers 
of  the  new  society,  and  Sister  Elizabeth  (Boyle), 
who  had  presided  for  so  many  years  over  the 
Orphan  Asylum,  in  Prince-street,  was  chosen 
superior.  The  Eev.  William  Starrs,  Pastor 
of  St.  Mary's  Church,  was  appointed  to  be  the 
ecclesiastical  superior  of  the  community.  A 
handsome  property  was  purchased  at  Bloom- 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.        125 

ingdale  (near  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
107th-street),  in  1847,  for  the  foundation  of  a 
Mother  House,  under  the  name  of  Mount  St. 
Vincents.  A  boarding-school  was  opened  in 
connection  with  it,  which  has.  been  very  pros- 
perous. The  community  has  also  increased, 
and  at  present  (1853)  numbers  one  hundred 
and  forty -three  members.  Since  their  reor- 
ganization, they  have  also  sent  out  a  colony  to 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1849,  having  charge 
of  an  orphan  asylum  and  free  school.  The 
large  asylum  on  Fiftieth-street,  for  boys,  was 
opened  in  1851.  The  Hospital  of  St.  Vincent 
of  Paul,  which  is  also  under  their  charge,  was 
opened  in  1849:  they  have  also  a  free  school 
attached  to  the  Mother  House,  and  another  at 
Jersey  City,  opened  the  present  year  (1853). 

The  Jubilee,  published  on  the  accession  of 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pius  IX.,  was  com- 
menced in  this  diocese  in  March,  1847 :  the 
exercises  were  well  attended,  and  produced 
abundant  fruit. 

In  August,  1847,  the  bulls  erecting  the  new 
Sees  of  Albany  and  Buffalo  were  received. 
The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop   M'Closkey,  Bishop  of 


126      HISTOKY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

Axiern  in  partibus  and  Coadjutor  of  New- 
York,  was  transferred  to  Albany;  and  the 
Eev.  John  Timon,  Superior  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Mission,  was  made  Bishop  of  Buf- 
falo. He  was  consecrated  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  on  the  17th  of  October,  1847,  by 
the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop  Hughes,  assisted  by  the 
Et.  Eev.  William  Walsh,  Bishop  of  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  the  Et.  Eev.  John  M'Clos- 
key.  Bishop  of  Albany. 

In  1848,  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools  were  introduced  into  the  diocese,  with 
the  approbation  and  cordial  co-operation  of 
the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Lafont,  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Yincent  of  Paul.  They  have  a  select  school 
and  pensionate  connected  with  their  house  in 
Canal-street,  and  have  charge  of  several  paro- 
chial schools  in  the  city  and  Brooklyn.  They 
are  extending  their  labors  as  rapidly  as  possi- 
ble, with  the  most  beneficial  effects,  to  the 
rising  generation  of  Catholics. 

The  new  Church  of  St.  Bridget,  erected 
through  the  exertions  of  the  Eev.  Eichard 
Kein,  near  the   corner  of  Eighth-street   and 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-YORK.        127 

Avenue  B,  opposite  Tompkins  Square,  was 
blessed  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop,  on  the  2d  of 
December,  1848.  On  the  23d  of  December, 
the  new  Church  of  St.  Stephen,  in  Twenty- 
seventh-street,  near  Madison  Square,  erected 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Cum- 
mings,  was  blessed  by  the  Et.  Eev.  Bishop. 

In  1850,  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
purchased  a  number  of  lots  on  Fifteenth-street, 
between  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues,  on 
which  they  immediately  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  the  College  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  for 
day  scholars.  It  was  opened  in  September, 
1850,  and  has  since  been  in  successful  opera- 
tion. At  the  same  time  the  Church  of  St 
Francis  Xavier,  fronting  on  Sixteenth-street 
and  abutting  on  the  college,  Avas  erected  under 
the  direction  of  the  Eev.  Father  Eyan.  It  was 
dedicated  by  the  Most  Eev.  Archbishop  on  the 
6th  of  July,  1851.  They  have  since  erected  a 
large  building,  as  a  free  school  for  boys,  which 
was  opened  in  May,  1853. 

The  brief  of  our  Holy  Father,  Pope  Pius 
IX,,  erecting  New- York  into  an  Archiepisco- 
pal  See,  with  the  Sees  of  Boston,  Hartford, 


128      HISTORY  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Albany,  and  Buffalo  as  Suffragan  Sees,  was 
received  on  the  8d  of  October,  1850.  The 
Most  Eev.  Archbishop  sailed  for  Europe  the 
following  month,  and  had  the  honor  of  receiv- 
ing the  Pallium  from  the  hands  of  the  Holy 
Father  himself. 

I  have  thus  brought  this  brief  and  imperfect 
sketch  of  the  history  of  Catholicity  on  this 
island  down  to  the  time  when  New-York  was 
erected  into  a  Metropolitan  See.  Since  then, 
several  new  churches  have  been  built  or  com- 
menced, and  the  various  institutions  already 
founded,  have  gone  on  prosperously  in  their 
career  of  usefulness.  The  corner-stone  of  the 
new  Church  of  St.  Lawrence,  at  Yorkville, 
was  laid  by  the  Most  Eev.  Archbishop,  on  the 
20th  of  October,  1851.  The  Church  of  St. 
Ann,"  in  Astor  Place,  was  purchased  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1852,  and  blessed  on  the  2d  of  June  in 
the  same  year.     Sites  for  new  churches  have 

"  This  church  was  originally  erected  in  Murray-street,  by 
the  Presbyterians,  in  1812,  for  Dr.  Mason,  one  of  their  most 
distinguished  ministers.  In  1842,  the  lot  upon  which  it 
stood  in  Murray-street  was  sold,  and  the  building  taken 
down  and  rebuilt  in  Astor  Place,  stone  for  stone.  The  con- 
gregation afterwards  became  embarrassed,  and  sold  out. 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW- YORK.        129 

been  purchased  in  various  parts  of  the  island. 
The  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  Forty- 
second-street,  between  the  Eighth  and  Ninth 
Avenues — the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid 
on  the  25th  of  November,  1852 — is  rapidly 
progressing.  The  Church  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  in  Thirty-first-street,  has  been  rebuilt 
in  a  style  of  great  beauty.  The  Church  of  the 
Transfiguration,  in  Chambers-street,  which 
was  purchased  from  the  Scotch  Presbyterians 
in  1831,  having  been  always  too  small  for  a 
Catholic  Church,  and  becoming  to  a  certain 
extent  unnecessary,  on  account  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  population  towards  the  upper  part 
of  the  city,  was  sold  in  1853.  With  the  money 
obtained  for  it,  its  debts  were  paid ;  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  called  Zion  Church,  a  large 
substantial  stone  edifice,  at  the  corner  of  Mott 
and  Cross  streets,  was  purchased ;  and  a  balance 
remains  on  hand  for  the  purchase  or  erection 
of  another  church,  as  soon  as  an  opportunity 
occurs.  Zion  Church  was  blessed  and  opened 
for  Divine  service  under  the  title  of  Transfig- 
uration Church,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1853. 
The  property  on  Twenty-seventh-street,  near 
6^- 


ISO      HISTORY   OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Madison  Avenue,  upon  whicli  the  temporary 
Church  of  St.  Stephen  had  been  erected,  being 
found  unfitted  for  a  church,  on  account  of  its 
proximity  to  the  Harlem  Eailroad  Depot,  was 
sold,  and  a  more  eligible  site  purchased  on 
Twenty-eighth-street,  between  the  Third  and 
Lexington  Avenues,  upon  which  the  new  and 
elegant  Church  of  St.  Stephen,  under  the 
charge  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Cummings  (the  corner- 
stone of  which  was  laid  on  the  17th  of  April, 
1853),  is  being  erected.  Churches  have  also 
been  commenced  at  Manhattanville  and  Car- 
mansville.  The  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools  are  also  erecting  a  suitable  head- 
house  and  schools  on  property  purchased  for 
that  purpose  at  Manhattanville. 

But  though  much  has  been  done,  much  re- 
mains to  be  accomplished.  The  ''two  hun- 
dred Catholics"  of  1785  were  better  provided 
for  than  the  two  hundred  thousand  who  now 
dwell  within  the  boundaries  of  the  City  of 
New- York.  It  is  true,  that  no  exertions  could 
have  kept  pace  with  the  tide  of  emigration 
which  has  been  pouring  in  upon  our  shores, 
especially  during  the  last  few   years.     The 


ON   THE   ISLAND   OF   NEW-\t!>j:iK.        131 

number  of  priests,  churches,  and  schools, 
rapidly  as  they  have  increased,  are  entirely 
inadequate  to  the  wants  of  our  Catholic  popu- 
lation, and  render  it  imperative  that  every 
exertion  should  he  make  to  supply  the  defi- 
ciency. What  has  been  done  so  far,  has,  by 
God's  blessing,  been  accomplished  by  the  Ca- 
tholics of  Xe\Y-York  themselves.  Compara- 
tively very  little  assistance  has  been  received 
from  the  liberality  of  our  brethren  in  other 
countries.  And  whilst  we  have  done  so  much 
for  ourselves,  we  have  contributed  liberally 
towards  the  erection  of  churches  and  other 
works  of  piety  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States. 

Though  the  Catholic  Church  in  this  country 
has  increased  much  more  largely  by  conver- 
sions than  is  generally  supposed,  yet,  for  the 
most  part,  its  rapid  development  has  been  ow- 
ing to  the  emigration  of  Catholics  from  foreign 
countries ;  and,  if  we  desire  to  make  this  in- 
crease permanent,  and  to  keep  the  children  in 
the  faith  of  their  fathers,  we  must,  above  all 
things,  take  measures  to  imbue  the  minds  of 
the  risini^  generation  of  Catholics  with  sound 


APPENDIX. 

A  LIST  OF  PRIESTS  WHO  HAVE  DIED  IN  THE 

DIOCESE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

Rev.  William  V.  O'Brien,    May,  1816;   buried  under  St. 

Peter's  Church. 
Rev.  Michael  O'Gorman,  November,  1824;  buried  in  front 

of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral. 
Rev.  Richard  Bulger,  November,  1824;    buried  with  the 

Rev.  Mr.  O'Gorman. 
Rev.  Charles  Brennan,  March,  1826;  buried  with  the  Rev. 

Mr.  O'Gorman  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bulger. 
Rev.  Peter  Malou,  Assistant  Priest  of  St.  Peter's  Church ; 

died  at  lOY  Duane-street,  on  Friday  at  12  o'clock,  18  27; 

buried  under  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral. 
Rev.  William  Taylor,  for  several  years  on  the  Mission  in 

the  City  of  New-York ;  died  at  Paris  in  1828. 
Rev.  Luke  Berry,  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church ;  died  on  the 

6th  of  December,  1831,  aged  35  yeai's.     He  was  the  first 

Priest  ordained  by  Bishop  DuBois. 
Rev.  N.  M'Namara,  died  at  Rochester,  New- York,  on  the 

2d  of  August,  1832.     He  was  at  one  time  Assistant  at  St. 

Peter's  Church. 
Rev.  James  Smith,  A.ssistant  at  St.  Peter's ;  died  at  sea  on 

his  voyage  from  New-York  to  Liverpool,  January,  1832. 
Rev.  William  Byrnes,  on  the  Mission  for  some  time  in  New- 
Jersey ;  died  at  Plattsburg,  in  183Y. 
Rev.  Gregory  B.  Pardow,  on  the  Mission  at  Newark,  N.  J. : 

died  on  the  24th  of  April,  1838. 
Rev.  Paul  Kohlman,  formerly  Assistant  at  St.  Peter's ;  died 

at  Georgetown  College,  on  the  11th  of  October,  1838, 

aged  68  years. 


134:  APPENDIX. 

Rev.  James  Neale,  some  time  Assistant  at  St.  Peter's ;  died 

in  New- York,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1838. 
Rev.  James  Drummond,  died  on  the  4th  of  October,  1839. 
Rev. -Patrick  Foley,  died  at  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.,  on  the  14th 

of  August,  1839,  aged  45  years. 
Rev.  William    Grace,  Pastor  at  Auburn,  N.  Y. ;    died  on 

the  9th  of  April,  1840. 
Rev.  Bernard  MArdle,  Pastor  at  Belleville,  N.  J.;  died  on 

the  30th  of  August,  1840. 
Rev.  Francis  Farrell,  Pastor  at  Utica;  died  on  the  5th  of 

December,  1840. 
Rev.  James  Dougherty,   attached  to   St.  James's   Church, 

Brooklyn;  died  on  the  29th  of  March,  1841. 
Rev.  Carberry  J.  Byrne,  died  at  St.  Mary's  Parish  House,  on 

the  19th  of  March,  1842;  buried  imder  the  Cathedral. 
Rev.  Thomas  C.  Levins,  died  on  the  6tli  of  May,  1843,  aged 

54  years;  buried  under  the  Cathedral. 
Rev.  Nicholas  Mertz,  died  at  Eden,  on  the  10th  of  August, 

1844,  aged  81  years. 
Rev.  Patrick  Kenny,  died  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  on  the  21st 

of  March,  1845. 
Rev.  Alexander  Muppietti,  died  on  the  21st  of  March,  1846. 
Rev.  John  Harley,  died  on  the  8th  of  December,  1846,  aged 

30  years. 
Rev.  Patrick  Murphy,  Pastor  of  Staten  Island ;  died  on  the 

11th  of  February,  1848  ;  buried  at  New  Brighton. 
Rev.    John   N.  Smith,  Pastor   of  St.   James's,   New-York ; 

caught  the  ship  fever  in  administering  the  last  sacrament 

to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Murphy,  and  died  on  the  16th  of  February, 

1848  ;  buried  under  the  Cathedral. 
Rev.  William  Whelan,  Pastor  at  Buffalo;  died  on  the  2'7th 

of  April,  184^7. 
Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarters,  for  many  years  Pastor  of  St. 

Mary's,  and  first  Bishop  of  Chicago;  died  on  the  lOtli  of 

April,  1848. 
Rev.  Felix  Larkin,  Pastor  of  St.  John's,  Fiftieth-street;  died 

on  the  20thofMay,  1848. 


APPENDIX.  135 

Rev.  Peter  Le  Breton,  S.  J.,  died  at  ISew-York,  on  tlie  10th 

of  October,  1848. 
Yevj  Rev.  John  Power,  Y.  G. ;  died  on  the  14th  of  April,  1849. 
Rev.  Miles  Maxwell,  Pastor  at  Rondoiit;  died  on  the  31st 

of  August,  1849. 
Rev.  James  Cummiskey,  Assistant  at  St.  Columba's  Church ; 

died  on  the  14th  of  Api'il,  1850. 
Rev.  Patrick  Waters,  died  on  the  28th  of  April,  1850,  of  ship 

fever,  caught  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  on  Ward's  Island. 
Rev.  Matthew  Higgins,  Pastor  of  Westchester ;  died  at  his 

father's  residence,  in  Ireland,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1851, 
Rev.  James  Quinn,  Pastor  at  Paterson,  N.  J. ;  died  on  the 

13th  of  June,  1851. 
Rev.  Henry  Du  Merle,  S.  J,,  died  at  Montreal,  on  the  21st 

of  June,  1851. 
Rev.  Adolphus  Kettel,  of  the  Order  of  the  Redemptorists; 

died  on  the  22d  of  June,  1851,  of  ship  fever,  caught  in  the 

discharge  of  his  duties  on  Ward's  Island. 
Rev.  John  McDonnell,  S.  J.,  died  atFordham,  on  the  14th  of 

January,  1852. 
Rev.  Charles  Schianski,  S.  J.  died  at  Montreal,  on  the  5th  of 

March,  1852. 
Rev.  Wenceslaus  Cublu,  of  the  Redemptorists:  died  on  the 

nth  of  March,  1852,  of  ship  fever. 
Rev.  Charles  Landsheer,  of  the  Redemptoriats;  died  on  the 

1st  of  April,  1852,  of  ship  fever. 
Rev.  John  Walsh,  Pastor  at  Harlem;   died  on  the  8tli  of 

August,  1852. 
Rev.  John  J.  Regan,  Assistant  at  St.  Paul's,  Brooklyn ;  died 

on  the  10th  of  December,  1852. 
Rev.  Thomas  Mulrine,  Assistant  at  the  Cathedral ;  died  on 

the  25th  of  February,  1853. 
Very  Rev.  Felix  Yarela,  D.  D.,  died  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida, 

on  the  28th  of  February,  1853. 
Rev.  Patrick  Duffy,  Pastor  at  Xewburg,  X.  Y. ;  died  on  the 

20th  of  June,  1853. 


136 


APPENDIX. 


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APPENDIX.  143 


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148 


APPENDIX. 


A  Table  of  the  Number  of  Priests  in  the  Diocese  at 
various  times,  from  1822  to  1853,  inclusive. 


YEAR 

1822 

BISHOP. 

COADJUTORS. 

PRIESTS. 

8 

one 

none 

1836 

one 

none 

35 

1837 

one 

none 

40 

1838 

one 

one 

45 

1    1839 

one 

one 

58 

1840 

one 

one 

61 

j    1841 

one 

one 

66 

1    1842 

one 

one 

67 

1843 

one 

none 

73 

1844 

one 

one 

85 

1845 

one 

one 

101 

1846 

one 

one 

111 

1847 

one 

one 

124 

In  1848  the 

Diocese  was  divided  into  three  Dioceses: 

YEAR. 

PRIESTS  IN  THE 
DIOCESE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

IN  THE 
THREE  DIOCESES, 

1848 

88 

140 

1849 

92 

160 

1850 

99 

187 

1851 

109 

223 

1852 

122 

242 

1853 

134 

258 

APPENDIX.  149 


PKOCEEDINGS  IN  THE  CONVENTION  OF  1776 
AS  TO  CATHOLICS. 

State  of  New- York,  1776. 
The  Colony  of  New-York  had,  by  its  representatives 
in  the  General  Congress,  declared  itself  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent State,  absolved  of  all  allegiance  to  the  British 
Crown ;  and  following  the  recommendation  given  by 
that  Congress  (on  31st  May,  1776)  to  form  a  State  gov- 
ernment, the  Congress  of  New-York  called  a  conven- 
tion to  settle  the  frame  of  the  new  government.  The 
Convention  met  on  the  6th  March,  1777,  at  Kingston. 

NATURALIZATION. 

On  the  21st,  the  36th  paragraph  of  the  proposed 
Constitution,  relating  to  the  naturalization  of  persons 
coming  into  this  State,  was  read.  The  same  being  again 
read,  Mr.  Jay  moved,  and  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Duns- 
comb,  that  between  the  word  "  State  "  and  the  word 
'^  shall "  the  following  words  be  inserted,  to  wit :  "  and 
abjure  and  renounce  all  allegiance  and  subjection  to 
all  and  every  foreign  king,  prince,  potentate,  and  stati, 
in  all  matters  ecclesiastical  and  civil."  Debates  arose 
thereon. — Postponed. — Journal  Conv.^  p.  846. 

26th.  Mr.  Morris,  after  some  attempts  to  modify  it, 
proposed  ^^  that  it  shall  be  in  the  discretion  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  naturalize  all  such  persons  and  in  such  man- 
ner as  they  shall  think  proper."  Mr.  Jay  again  proposed 
his  amendment,  which  was  finally  carried. 

April  1st.  Mr.  Morris  again  moved  to  obliterate  the 
whole.     Debates  arose,  some  amendments  were  made, 


150  APPENDIX. 

but  Morris's  motion  lost,  by  5.  Philip  Livingston  gave 
notice  of  his  intention  to  move  for  a  reconsideration. 

As  passed  it  read  thus : — 

"  XLIL  And  this  convention  doth  further,  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  this  State, 
Ordain,  determine,  and  declare,  that  it  shall  be  in  the 
discretion  of  the  Legislature  to  naturalize  all  such  per- 
sons and  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  think  proper ; 
provided  all  such  of  the  persons  so  to  be  by  them  natu- 
ralized, as  being  born  in  parts  beyond  sea  and  out  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  shall  come  to  settle  in 
and  become  subjects  of  this  State,  shall  take  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  this  State,  and  abjure  and  renounce  all 
allegiance  and  subjection  to  all  and  every  foreign  king, 
prince,  potentate,  and  state,  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical 
as  well  as  oivil.'" — JouTnal  of  the  Provincial  Conv.^  vol. 
40,  1842. 

TOLEEATION. 

March  20.  The  section  as  to  religious  toleration  was 
brought  up,  which  declared  "  that  the  free  toleration 
of  religious  profession  and  worship,  shall  for  ever  here- 
after be  allowed  to  all  mankind."  Mr.  Jay  moved  an 
amendment,  '^  Provided  that  nothing  in  this  clause  con- 
tained shall  be  construed  to  extend  the  toleration  of 
any  sect  or  denomination  of  Christians,  or  others,  by 
whatever  name  distinguished,  who  inculcate  and  hold 
for  true,  doctrines  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  ciyil 
society,  of  and  concerning  which  the  Legislature  of  this 
State  shall  from  time  to  time  judge  and  determine." 

Many  debates  arose,  and  Jay  finally  withdrew  it,  and 
proposed,  ''Except  the  professors  of  the  religion  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  who  ought  not  to  hold  lands  in  or  be 
admitted  to  a  participation  of  the  civil  rights  enjoyed 
by  the  members  of  this  State,  until  such  time  as  the 
said  professors  shall  appear  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
tliis  State,  and  there  most  solemnly  swear,  that  they 


APPEND!^.  151 

verily  believe  in  their  consciences  that  no  pope,  priest, 
or  foreign  authority  on  earth,  hath  power  to  absolve 
the  subjects  of  this  State  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
same.  And  further,  that  they  renounce  and  believe  to 
be  false  and  wicked  the  dangerous  and  damnable  doc- 
trine that  the  Pope,  or  any  other  earthly  authority,  hath 
power  to  absolve  men  from  their  sins,  described  in  and 
prohibited  by  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  particu- 
larly that  no  pope,  priest,  or  foreign  authority  on  earth, 
hath  power  to  absolve  them  from  the  obligation  of  this 
oath." 

Long  debates  arose,  and  the  motion  was  lost,  19  to 
10.— p.  844. 

21.  Mr.  Jay  moved,  seconded  by  Wisner,  to  amend  by 
adding,  ''  provided  that  the  liberty  of  conscience  hereby 
granted  shall  not  be  construed  to  encourage  licentious- 
ness, or  be  used  in  such  manner  as  to  disturb  or  endan- 
ger the  safety  of  the  State." 

Mr.  Morris  moved  fpr  the  sense  of  the  House, 
whether  it  was  not  the  same  as  that  proposed  and 
withdrawn  by  Mr.  Jay  the  day  before.  The  House  de- 
cided it  was  not. 

R.  Livingston  proposed  as  a  substitute  for  Mr.  Jay's 
the  following  amendment,  "  provided  that  this  tolera- 
tion ghall  not  extend  to  justify  the  professors  of  any 
religion  in  disturbing  the  peace  or  violating  the  laws 
of  the  State."     Lost  by  19  to  11.— p.  846. 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  Jay  was  then  carried,  19  to  11. 

April  1.  Morris  moved  amendments,  making  it  as 
it  now  stands,  and  his  motion  prevailed.    It  reads : 

^'Provided,  that  the  liberty  of  conscience  hereby 
granted  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of 
licentiousness,  or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the 
peace  or  safety  of  this  State." — Jour.  Conv.,  p.  860. 


152  APPENDIX. 


CATHOLICITY  IN  NEW-YORK  IN  1822. 

The  following  is  the  full  account  of  the  Diocese  of 
New- York,  as  published  in  the  Almanac  of  1822.  The 
reader  of  the  preceding  pages  will  be  able  himself  to 
correct  its  inaccuracies : 

BISHOPRIC  OF  NEW-YORK. 
Rt.  Rev'd  Dr.  John  Connolly,  Bishop. 

The  bishopric  of  New- York  comprehends  the  whole 
State  of  New- York,  together  with  the  northern  parts  of 
Jersey.  The  residence  of  the  Bishop  is  in  New- York. 
This  city  contains  two  Catholic  churches,  viz.,  the  Ca- 
thedral (St.  Patrick's),  and  St.  Peter's. 

The  Cathedral  is  a  superb  edifice,  120  feet  long  by  80 
feet  wide,  finished  in  a  superior  manner  in  the  inside, 
and  is  capable  of  holding  6000  people.  The  exterior, 
as  to  the  ornamental  part,  is  yet  unfinished.  The  style 
of  the  building  is  Gothic ;  and  from  its  great  extent  and 
solidity,  must  have  cost  upwards  of  90,000  dollars.  No 
church  in  the  United  States  (the  Cathedral  in  Baltimore 
excepted)  can  compare  with  it. 

St.  Peter's,  which  is  the  first  Catholic  church  erected 
in  N'ew-York,  is  a  neat,  convenient,  and  handsome  build- 
ing. It  was  erected  about  20  years  ago,  at  which  time 
the  number  of  Catholics  did  not  exceed  three  hundred. 
At  present  they  number  upwards  of  twenty  thousand. 
They  are  mostly  natives  of  Ireland  and  France. 

There  are  in  this  city  two  extensive  Catholic  charity 
schools,  conducted  upon  a  judicious  plan,  and  supp-ortcd 


APPENDIX.  lOo 

partly  by  the  funds  of  the  State,  and  partly  by  moneys 
raised  twice  a  year  by  the  two  congregations.  Inde- 
pendently ofthese  two  establishments,  the  Emmettsburg 
Sisters  of  Charity  have  a  branch  here  of  their  pions  in- 
stitution, exclusively  for  the  benefit  of  female  orphan 
children,  whom  they  board,  clothe,  and  educate.  Their 
house  fronts  the  side  of  the  Cathedral,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  healthy  situations  in  iSTew-York. 

In  Albany  there  is  likewise  a  Catholic  church — a  neat 
and  compact  building.  It  was  erected  about  14  years 
ago,  and  is  attended  by  a  growing  congregation.  The 
clergyman  officiating  in  this  church,  visits  occasionally 
Troy,  Lansingburgh,  Johnstown  and  Schenectady. 

In  Utica,  a  large  and  beautiful  church  has  lately  been 
erected  and  consecrated,  v^hich  reflects  great  honor 
on  tlie  Catholics  residing  there.  Their  number  is  not 
great ;  neither  are  they  generally  wealthy — their  zeal 
however/(?r  the  house  of  God^  and  the  x^lcice  where  his 
glory  dtcelleth^  has  enabled  them  to  surmount  every  ob- 
stacle to  the  exercise  of  their  piety.  From  the  multitude 
flocking  annually  to  this  flourishing  village,  no  doubt 
can  be  entertained  but  this  will  shortly  become  one  of 
the  most  numerous  and  respectable  congregations  in 
the  diocese. 

In  Rome  (15  miles  distant  from  Utica),  there  is  as 
yet  no  Catholic  church,  but  a  beautiful  lot  is  reserved,  by 
the  liberality  of  Dominick  Lynch,  Esq.,  on  which  one 
will  be  erected,  as  soon  as  the  number  of  Catholics  set- 
tling there  will  render  its  erection  necessary.  The  situ- 
ation of  this  little  town  is  healthy  and  beautiful. 

In  Auburn,  an  agreeable  little  towm,  still  farther  dis- 
tant in  the  State,  there  is  likewise  a  Catholic  church, 
recentlv  erected. 


154:  APPENDIX. 

In  New  Jersey,  in  the  town  of  Paterson,  there  is  also 
one,  w^hich  is  regularly  attended  by  a  clergyman. 

In  Carthage,  near  the  Black  River,  a  small  and  neat 
church  has  been  lately  erected. 


THE  FOLLOAVING  ARE  THE  CATHOLIC  CLER- 
GYMEN OFFICIATING  IN  THIS  DIOCESE. 

NEW- YORK, 

Rt.  Rev'd  De.  John  Connolly,  )    St.  Patrick^  Catlie- 

Rey.  Michael  O^ Gorman,  \  dral. 

Rey.  Chaeles  Feench,    )     o*    -n  ^    -, 

Rev.  John  Power,  f    St.Peier.. 

Rey.  Me.  Bulger,  Patterson. 

Rey.  Michael  Carroll,  Albany  and  vicinity. 

Rey.  John  Farnan,  Utica  and  vicinity. 

Rev.  Pateick  Kelly,  Auburn.^   Rochester.^    and  other 

districts  in  the  Western  parts  of  this  State. 
Rey.  Philip  Laeissy,  attends   regularly  at  Staten-Isl- 

and.,  and  different  other  congregations  along  the 

Hudson  Rixer, 


CATHOLICITY  IN  NEV^-YORK  IN  1854. 

To  judge  of  the  progress  of  Catholicity  in  New-York, 
the  reader  may  compare  this  account  with  that  in  the 
Catholic  Almanac  of  1854.  In  the  same  territory, 
there  are  now  five  dioceses,  nearly  three  hundred 
priests,  three  colleges,  numerous  free  schools,  com- 
munities of  seven  religious  orders,  twelve  orphan 
asylums,  with  several  hospitals  and  other  charitable 
institutions. 


APPKNDIX.  lor 


ACTS  RELATING  TO  CATHOLICS  AND  CATHOLIC 

INSTITUTIONS  IN  THE  COLONY  AND 

STATE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

1683,  Oct.  30. — Charter  of  Liberties,  granting  Toleration. 

1691.    — Bill  of  Rights,  excepting  Catholics  from  Toleration. 

1700,  July  31. — Against  Priests  and  Jesuits ;    first  penalty,  Impris- 

onment; second.  Death. 

1701,  Sept.  11. — Papists  and  Popish  Recusants  disfranchised. 

1777,  April  20. — Constitution.  Free  exercise  of  Religion;  but  For- 
eigners, when  naturalized,  to  abjure  all  Ecclesias- 
tical Allegiance. 

1784,  April  6. — Act  of  Religious  Corporations. 

1784,  April  20.— Law  of  July  31,  1700,  repealed. 

1787,  Feb.  21.— Constitution  of  the  United  States  reported,  and 

1789,  Mar.  4. — Same  went  into  operation,  repealing  the  Naturali- 
zation Clause  in  that  of  New-York. 

1801,  Mar.  27. — Act  incorporating  Religious  Societies. 

1806,  Mar.  14. — Act  amendmg  the  same. 

1806,  Mar.  21.— Act  giving  St.  Peter's  Free  School  public  Money. 

1813,  April  5. — Act  for  incorporating  Religious  Societies   (now  in 

force) . 

1814,  Mar.  25. — Act  incorporating  Ursuline  Convent. 

1816,  April  12  —Act  vesting  in  St.  Peter's  Church  the  Right  of  the 

State  in  the  property  of  Ann  E.  Graham,  deceased. 

1817,  April  11. — Act  incorporating  St.  Peters's  Church,  New-York. 
1817,  April  14. — Act  incorporating  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  N.  Y. 
1817,  April  15. — Act  incorporating  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  So- 
ciety. 

1819,  Mar.  5.— Act  amending  Act  of  April  5, 1813. 

1820,  April  1.-- -Act  giving  Roman   Catholic    Benevolent    Society 

power  to  bind  out  Children,  part  of  School  Money, 

and   the   Right  of  the  State   in   the   Property   oi' 

Robert  Finn. 
1824,  April  3. — Act  amending  Act  of  April  11,  1817,  as  to  elections. 
1824,  Jan.  2«.— Christ's   P.  E.  Church,  in   Ann-street,  changed  to 

Christ  Church,  in  Ann-street. 
1826,  Feb,  lo,— Act  amending  Act  of  April  11,  1817,  not  to  forfeit  for 

omitting  to  elect,      (Now  in  force  ) 


15B  APl'KNDIX. 

1830,  April  -20.— Act  incorporating  St.  Mary's  Church,  New- York. 
1832,  April  25. — Act  amending-  the  same, 

1834,  April  3 — Act  applying  the  Provisions  of  the  Act  of  March  30, 

1811,  concerning  the  O.  A.  Society  in  the  City  of 
New- York,  to  the  Orphan  Asylum  in  Prince- 
street. 

May  6. — Act  incorporating  the  R.  C.  O.  A.  Society,  in  the  City 

of  Brooklyn,  in  the  County  of  Kings. 

1835,  May  2.— Act  incorporating  "  The  Asylum  for  the  Relief  of 

the  Children  of  poor  Widowers  and  Widows;"  in- 
come not  to  exceed  $50  for  each  child,  of  realty  and 
personalty. 

1836,  April  20.— R.  C.  Benevolent  Society  changed  to  R.  C.  O.  Asy- 

lum in  the  City.     To  last  twenty  Years. 

1837,  April  3. — Act  incorporating  O.  A.  of  St.  John's  Church,  in  the 

City  of  Utica,  in   the  County   of  Oneida. 
1842,  April  12. — Act  incorporating  St.  Joseph's  O.  A.  Society,  in  the 
County  of  Albany. 

1845,  May  14. — Act  incorporating   R.  C.  A.  Society  of  Rochester. 

Real  and  Personal  Estate  not  to  exceed  the  yearly 
value  of  $40  per  Orphan,  over  and  above  the  Build- 
ings occupied  by  them. 

1846,  April  10. — St.  John's  College,  Fordham,  incorporated  with  full 

powers. 

1847,  Dec.  15. — General  Act  for  allowances  to  Orphan  Asylums. 

1848,  April  12. — Corporation  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Rochester,  not 

to  dissolve  for  want  of  Trustees. 

1849,  April  11. — Academy  of  the  Sacred   Heart,  Rochester,  incor- 

porated. 

1851,  July  9. — The  Female  Academy  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  New- 

York,  incorporated. 

1852,  April  13. — The   Roman   Catholic    Orphan    Asylum,  and    the 

Asylum  for  the  Relief  of  the  Children  of  poor 
Widowers  and  Widows,  united. 

1853,  July  21.-— The  Orphan  Asylum  of  the  Holy  Family,  at  Au- 

burn, incorporated. 


THE    END. 


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